The Thorny Rose
by Brennus
Summary: Harry has been entered into the Triwizard Tournament against his will, and his friends don't believe him when he insists he didn't enter his name. Will Ginny Weasley sit by and watch him suffer alone, or will she risk exposing the dark secret she has been hiding. GoF re-write from Ginny's POV. Smart & slightly manipulative Ginny! Extreme Ron-bashing!
1. Chapter 1 - Ginny's Helping Hand

Chapter 1 – Ginny's Helping Hand

AN

Yes, like a bad penny I keep coming back, and this time I have a story that is a little bit different for me.

Firstly, you will notice that the story is not in the 'Alternative Universe' category. Although it does feature one large AU element, it is essentially a 'Goblet of Fire' re-write. Secondly, you will notice the lower than normal rating attached to the story. Has Brennus gone soft, I hear you cry? Simply, apart from a bit of naughty language here and there, this story doesn't contain anything too shocking. In fact, it has the lowest body count of any story I've ever written. That said, I do intend to make this a series covering the later years and I expect things with change to my more usual rating at that point.

Warning: this story contains extreme Ron-bashing. If Ron is one of your favourite characters you may want to give this a miss. Seriously, if I get a load of reviews whining about how I've portrayed the youngest Weasley brother I will hunt down the person responsible and fill their wellies full of custard. And nobody wants that, trust me. There's even a bit of mild Neville-bashing, just because I like to be different.

Finally, come of you might have a few concerns about how I've written Ginny. Yes, she's very different from how she would be in canon at this point, but hopefully I've covered why that is clearly in the story. Yes, she might be a bit manipulative here, but not everything will go her way and she will learn some valuable lessons later on. Besides, I like to think 'this' Ginny is much more like she would be in 'Death Hallows' if JKR had actually written more about her. The whole thing is mostly from Ginny's POV, and hopefully I've shown what a smart cookie she actually is.

Huge thanks to Arnel for her super beta work and canon corrections. Quite why I was convinced Riddle was seventeen when he created the diary I have no idea. Doh.

* * *

Ginny Weasley absently chewed her bottom lip as she watched the drama unfolding on the opposite side of the common room. She frowned in disapproval as her brother yelled angrily at his best friend. Ron's face was bright red and his arms were gesturing wildly, a sure sign that his temper was spinning out of control. The third member of the normally inseparable trio, Hermione Granger, was standing between the two boys unsuccessfully trying to calm the situation down.

After five solid minutes of shouted accusations and denials, Ron turned on his heels and stomped off. Ginny snorted in disgust as she watched Hermione give the remaining boy an apologetic gesture, and rush off in the direction Ron had disappeared. That was just typical of the girl.

The now solitary boy threw himself down on a nearby sofa and glared into space. Even from this distance Ginny could see his shoulders shaking with anger and his fists were clenched. Most of the other occupants of the common room had hurriedly backed away from the boy, leaving him in a small oasis of solitude. As she watched him stewing in his own frustrations, she found herself full of indecision.

You see, little Ginny Weasley had big plans for that raven-haired young man. As far as she was concerned he was her future. He held the promise of a life of excitement and fulfilment for her, and that was something she intended to fight for. The only problem was that she had not intended to make her move yet. He was still too immature and was only just beginning to come into his true power. When he was fully grown he would be a formidable wizard, but he was not there yet.

Unfortunately, she was not ready to commence her plan, either. Her thirteen-year-old body was not yet equipped to grab the boy's attention as she intended, no matter how much she wished it otherwise. Ginny was far more mature then her physical appearance suggested and her body was sadly lagging behind in development. While to all appearances she had only just entered her teen years, mentally she was over sixteen years old, an extremely mature sixteen, at that. She had been in this state ever since she had been possessed by the spirit of a Dark wizard called Tom Riddle. Although Riddle had been destroyed, he had left Ginny with a memento of himself: his memories.

Ever since she had awoken in the Chamber of Secrets on that fateful day during the end of her first year, she had been vaguely aware of knowledge and memories that could not possibly be hers. At first, she had been unsure what it all meant and she was not consciously aware of where the memories had come from. No, the knowledge had come to her gradually. She firstly realised that she knew routes and shortcuts around Hogwarts that she previously had no knowledge of. Then, when classes had started again she was shocked to find that she knew all her lessons before they were taught to her. She was able to cast new spells on the first attempt and her grades skyrocketed.

It was only then that Ginny realised that she could remember memories that could not be hers; terrible, disturbing memories. She could recall the misery and hardships of an orphanage that she had never set foot in. She could remember the deep satisfaction of beginning to realise that magical powers were hers to command, and the almost sexual satisfaction inflicting pain on the other occupants of the orphanage. Ginny was nearly physically sick at that point.

More and more memories started to reveal themselves to her, she realised she knew Dark spells and horrible rituals that were horrific in their results. Magic of the blackest kind was known to her, and she was terrified by the thought of what she may be capable of. Then, finally, she started to remember killing a fellow pupil. She couldn't forget the terrified expression on the face of the pathetic little girl before the Basilisk she had unleashed killed her. But how could that be? She knew she had unleashed the awful snake under Tom Riddle's command, but it had only Petrified its victims, hadn't it. It was some time later that she realised the girl she had witnessed being killed was Moaning Myrtle.

For a while Ginny thought she was going to go insane. The most evil of knowledge was hers to command and it scared her nearly beyond reason. But gradually, almost unperceivably, things began to change. She started to realise that this was a different situation entirely than when she was possessed by Riddle. She was not being forced to do anything against her will. The knowledge was just there; she didn't have to use it if she didn't want to. Once she had accepted that she began to feel a lot better.

However, she also realised she had a problem. If anyone learnt that she had all the memories of a sixteen-year-old Dark Lord, she doubted it would go well for her. Would anyone trust her again if they knew she had all the knowledge that Voldemort had possessed in his early years? Ginny doubted it. It would be in her best interests if she kept the whole thing secret, she decided.

She began to be more careful in class. Although she maintained her good grades, she made sure she was not always the first person to get a new spell right. She hid any knowledge that she was not supposed to be aware of at her age, and occasionally pretended to be ignorant of facts that she had at her fingertips. Her teachers believed her to be a bright, intelligent pupil and nothing more.

Eventually, even the memories of the dreadful acts that Riddle had perpetrated began to lose their edge. She could distance herself from them, and she began to think of them just like the images on those Muggle television things that her dad was always on about. They were disturbing certainly, but they were nothing to do with her.

It was only at this point that she began to consider Tom Riddle's knowledge a benefit, rather than a curse. She began to study the memories and learn from them. While she had absolutely no desire to follow the young man's path into darkness, she realised that if used correctly the information she had gained could help her make her dreams into reality. The question was; what did she want?

It was easy enough to decide what she didn't want. The worst thing she could think of was ending up as a housewitch just like her mum. The idea of being stuck behind a stove after being reduced to nothing more than a baby making machine was abhorrent to her. Good luck to her mum if she was happy doing that, but Ginny would be damned if that was going to be her fate.

No, she wanted a life of adventure and excitement. Being financially well off appealed to her, as well. She rarely complained about the Weasleys' lack of wealth, but it didn't mean she liked it. Ginny also wanted romance and love. This was where she and Riddle differed the most; Riddle understood desire but not love. Ginny yearned for deep, meaningful love; the kind that consumed her whole being and lit a fire in her soul. But she also wanted the man she chose to treat her as an equal. She wouldn't be some love-struck, simpering maiden who would bend to her lover's every wish. They would be partners in all things.

Of course, there was only one boy she had ever felt anything remotely like that for. After Harry had saved her life in the Chamber of Secrets, Ginny had discovered that her girlish crush on the Boy Who Lived had crumbled and vanished. It was replaced by much deeper and stronger feelings and the eleven-year-old Ginny Weasley was shocked to find she was deeply in love with Harry Potter. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realised what a good thing this potentially could be.

Even at the tender age of fourteen, it was fairly clear what sort of person Harry was going to be. While most people were impressed by his bravery and daring, Ginny appreciated his caring nature and his refusal to set himself above others. He had the potential to make the perfect husband who would automatically treat his partner with consideration and respect: just what she wanted. It was also clear Harry was going to grow up to be an immensely powerful wizard, possibly as powerful as Voldemort or Dumbledore. With his power and dedication and her knowledge and ambition, there was nothing the two of them could not achieve together!

Ginny decided at that point that Harry would be hers, but she would have to be cunning to achieve her goal. At first, she had been concerned that Harry appeared to show no interest in her at all, but after careful observation she realised that Harry was oblivious to all girls, certainly as anything other than friends. Ginny would simply have to be patient and bide her time until he matured a bit. It would be no use just throwing herself at him, either; he would run a mile if she did that. No, Harry appreciated loyalty and support above everything. Ginny had knowledge that would be vital to Harry later in life; the boy had a destiny to fulfil and a Dark Lord to conquer, after all, and she knew more about Voldemort than any person alive. When the time was right she would start offering hints and suggestions, slowly making herself invaluable to him. Only once she had established herself as an indispensable friend and ally would she would start a campaign of seduction.

Which brought her to her current dilemma. She had not intended to make her move for Harry yet, but his current circumstances offered her a golden opportunity that looked too good to waste.

It seemed the whole school was convinced that Harry had put his name inside the Goblet of Fire, despite the boy's ardent protests to the contrary. He had been in turn abused, praised, vilified and ridiculed, but he had not been believed. Even his supposed best friend, in a fit of jealousy, had abandoned him. Ginny knew that this would hurt him more than anything.

Sighing, Ginny stood and started to walk over towards Harry: she had made her decision. Whether it was the right move or not for her future plans, she just couldn't stand the look of frustration and despair on his face. Harry needed her help and she just couldn't stand by and watch him suffer.

She gently eased herself down onto the sofa next to Harry. For a second he seemed oblivious to her presence, but then his head shot up in surprise. Ginny could see the defensive expression on his face and the hard look in his eyes. He probably thought she was here to berate him for putting his name in the Goblet, she realised. Deciding she had better head off any angry words, she spoke before he had a chance to.

"Ron still being a prat, is he?" she asked.

Harry's expression instantly turned from anger to surprise. He stared at Ginny for a moment, obviously trying to figure out what to say.

"I'm really sorry he's behaving like that," she continued, trying to reassure him further. "I'm sure that deep down he knows that you didn't enter the Tournament yourself, but he's just too jealous to admit it."

"You… you believe that I didn't put my name in the Goblet?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Harry, I know how much you hate drawing attention to yourself. Entering this Tournament is the last thing I think you'd do. Besides, you said you didn't and that's good enough for me," she told him earnestly.

As her words sunk in, his whole posture changed. His shoulders slumped and his body, which had been tense and rigid, relaxed. For the first time since he had entered the room the ghost of a smile appeared on his lips. Ginny started to realise just how much it meant to Harry that just one person had said that they believed him. She started to suspect that coming over to talk to him had been a good move.

"Thanks, Ginny," Harry said, relief evident in his voice. "You have no idea how great it is to hear you say that."

"No problem," she replied, smiling sweetly. "So, what exactly did Ron say to you?"

Harry's expression darkened again. "He just wouldn't believe a word I said! He just kept banging on about how I'd cheated him out of the chance of competing in the Tournament. If he's that keen to take part he can have my bloody spot."

Ginny pondered her response. As much as she loved her brother she knew he was holding Harry back. Ron really had a poor attitude to life; he whined and complained about being the youngest of six brothers, but did nothing to help himself stand out. He was happy to coast through life, never pushing himself, but was bitter that he wasn't rich or famous. It was pathetic, really. Worst still in Ginny's mind, was Ron's habit of trying to drag everyone down to his level. He'd ridicule any attempts to do anything but the absolute minimum of school work and badger his friends into joining him in games of chess or Exploding Snap when they were trying to study. Hermione might be smart enough to ignore him but Harry, desperate for friendship that had been denied him most of his life, normally buckled under Ron's insistent requests.

No, unfortunately, there was nothing for it. If Harry was going to achieve his true potential he had to ditch Ron. Given Harry's forgiving nature, however, that might be a hard thing to achieve. Ginny would have to take the boys' current rift and slowly widen it until their relationship was destroyed forever. It might be rather hard on her brother, but he had brought it on himself.

"It wouldn't do any good," Ginny said carefully. "Even if you could just hand him your place in the Tournament, as soon as things got difficult he'd start blaming you for tricking him into taking part. Ron wants the fame and attention that the Tournament brings, but let's face it; he'd last five minutes if he did take part."

"Well, what chance do I stand, then?" Harry demanded. "I'm no better than Ron. I don't know any more spells than him. Everyone else taking part is in their seventh year and they are bound to know loads more than me. I'm doomed."

"Says the boy who produced a Patronus Charm in his third year," Ginny pointed out. "It takes a really powerful wizard to be able to do that."

"But it took me ages to learn that spell," Harry objected, "and that's just one spell. The others will have NEWT level stuff at their disposal and I won't even take my OWL's until the end of next year. It'll be like sending a toddler into a boxing ring with Muhammed Ali!"

"You still have some time," Ginny assured him, ignoring the Muggle reference which she didn't understand. "If you put your mind to it I bet you can learn a load of new spells before you have to take part in the first task."

"I haven't got that long," Harry moaned. "Besides, where the hell do I start? I haven't got a clue what I should be trying to learn and who'll teach me? I would ask Hermione but I get the impression she doesn't want to get in the middle of this fight between me and Ron."

"You don't need Hermione," Ginny said firmly. "Why don't you ask one of the Professors what sort of things you'll need. We can then get the relevant books from the library to study from. I'll bet in the circumstances one of the teachers will even let you use a spare classroom to practice in."

"I'm not supposed to get help from any of the school staff. It's in the rules," Harry said dejectedly.

Ginny resisted the urge to slap him hard for his defeatist attitude. It wasn't his fault, after all; she bet his horrid family belittled him all his life and made him think he could never achieve anything. Come to think of it, for all her nagging about studying harder, Hermione was always quick to criticise him and ridicule his efforts. Maybe Ginny needed to ease Harry away from her, too, although the girl's awesome intelligence made her a far more useful ally than Ron.

"It's not really helping, is it? All they would be doing is making some suggestions for topics for you to study. That's just what any teacher should be doing," Ginny insisted. "You might want to write to your godfather for advice as well."

"How do you…" Harry began with a shocked expression on his face.

"Ron can't keep a secret to save his life," Ginny said, anticipating his question. "He loves to boast about all the cool adventures he's been involved in."

"Damn it!" Harry snarled quietly. "This was supposed to be kept quiet! If the Ministry get a whiff of where Sirius is, he'll end up getting Kissed by a Dementor before he can blink. How can Ron have been so stupid?"

"It's okay, Harry," Ginny assured him. "Ron only bragged about this while we were at the Burrow. No one there would betray your secrets. You might want to think twice about telling Ron anything too important in the future, though."

"Bloody right!" Harry snapped. "But can you be sure that none of this will go any further? What about Percy, for instance. I bet he'd rat out your mum if he thought she'd been breaking Ministry rules, let alone me."

"Trust me, no one in our house would be stupid enough to tell Percy anything, not even Ron," she said. "And he doesn't even live at the Burrow anymore. He's found a flat near to the Ministry so there's no chance he'll overheard anything."

"There's always a chance," Harry disagreed, but he did sound placated. "I think you're right; Ron is becoming a security risk. Merlin knows what he's going to let slip while he's ranting about me at the moment."

"Hopefully, Hermione will keep him in check. But don't worry about my idiot brother for now. Are you going to ask Moody and Flitwick for a list of spells to learn?" she asked insistently.

"Yeah, I'll ask them tomorrow," Harry promised. "I'll write to Sirius as well. I'm still not convinced that it will do much good. I've got less than a month until the First Task and I can't see me learning much on my own."

"I'll help you," Ginny offered. "If nothing else I can check that you're getting the incantations and wand movements right from the spell books." Of course, the chances were that Tom knew all the spells Harry was likely to try to learn and she could make sure that he learnt them properly. The pretence that she was just coaching Harry from a school book was a good cover for her, though.

"You'll help me?" Harry exclaimed in surprise. "That would be great, Ginny!"

"Don't worry about it. Besides, it might be fun and I bet I'll learn loads, too," she said with a grin. Harry's happy reaction was its own reward.

"Thanks, Ginny. You're a star," he said, beaming at her. "Whatever happened to that shy little girl who ran away whenever I entered the room?"

_She was possessed by an evil, would-be Dark Lord who nearly killed her and then dumped all his knowledge into her head_, she thought. _Not that Harry needs to know that._

"Oh, you know, I just grew up a bit. It was daft, really. All I wanted to do was talk to you and yet I could never work up the nerve," Ginny replied. "I warn you though; if you even think of mentioning anything about a certain butter dish I'll have to hurt you."

"Don't worry," Harry said, his expression darkening. "Right now you're about the only friend I've got. I'm not going to start trying to embarrass you."

"You have more friends than you think," she promised him, gently laying her hand on his arm reassuringly. She frowned when he flinched at the physical contact. That was something else she would have to change; he would need to get used to being touched. It was something she would have to instigate gradually, however. A casual touch here, a gentle stroke of the arm there, and eventually… well, anything more than that will be a long way off yet.

"It's getting late. We should both get to bed," she told him, trying to get her thoughts back to the present. "Why don't you meet me for breakfast and we'll plan the day?"

"Yeah, good idea," Harry agreed, before standing and heading towards his dorm room. Before he reached the stairway leading to his room he turned and looked back at her. "Thanks, Ginny. I feel a lot happier after talking to you."

"You're welcome, Harry. Goodnight," she replied, before watching him vanish up the stairway.

For a second she sat and stared at the passageway that Harry had disappeared into. All her hopes and dreams were resting on that young man and she prayed she was doing the right thing by making her move now. Still, things had gone as well as she could have hoped and she had already laid the foundation of a firm friendship. Ginny realised that she would shortly have to start manipulating the young man she loved, and she felt a pang of guilt for deceiving him. But if Harry was to fulfil his potential, hell, if he was to get through the Tournament alive, he needed to accept her guidance.

With a look of determination on her face, she rose and headed towards her own bed. Tomorrow she would start Harry down the path that lead to his destiny and, she hoped, hers too.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Next morning found Ginny seated on a sofa near the entrance to the boy's dormitory. She'd already watched her brother Ron emerge down the stairs with a face like thunder, before stomping off without giving her a second glance. Fred and George had also appeared a short while later, in a much happier state. They had both wished her a good morning while looking at her quizzically. No doubt they were wondering who she was waiting for, but neither of them said anything.

Eventually, Harry emerged with a scowl on his face. He threw himself down on the couch next to her angrily. Ginny was pretty sure she could guess what had caused his foul mood.

"Morning, Harry," she said carefully. "Sleep well?"

"Not really," he snapped, before looking over at her apologetically. "Sorry, Ginny. Good morning to you, too. I didn't mean to snap at you, but I really haven't had a good night."

"Don't tell: Ron. Has he been causing problems? I just saw him steam through here with a face that would curdle milk," she said.

"Yeah, you guessed it," Harry snorted. "I don't know what his problem is! I was happy just to ignore him, but he just has to start getting a few digs in. If he really doesn't like me anymore why doesn't he leave me alone?"

"Basically, because he's an immature prat," Ginny told him. "As Ron's had his nose put out of joint he feels he has to make everyone else miserable, as well. Just ignore him; if you start reacting to him he'll only get worse."

"I wish it was that easy," Harry lamented. "It got so tense in the dorm last night that I think Neville came down here to sleep. Dean and Seamus came within a hair's-breadth of joining him. Just when you'd think that Ron had finally calmed down, he'd suddenly just start shouting again for no good reason. No offence, Ginny, but I'm beginning to think your brother is a bit touched in the head."

"Yeah, I think Mum dropped him on his head at some point. Shame she wasn't flying on a broom when she did it," she joked.

Harry snorted. "Perhaps she was. It would certainly explain a few things. Come on then, Gin. Let's go get some breakfast."

Ginny blinked in surprise. Not only had Harry just referred to her as 'Gin', but once he had stood he had also offered his hand to help her up. Trying to suppress a smirk, she grasped his hand and let herself be pulled to her feet.

They made their way down to the Great Hall in companionable silence. As soon as they entered the Hall, however, they were greeted by a wave of muttering and not a few scowls. Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny could see Harry's face heat up and his expression harden.

No doubt distracted by the unfriendly welcome, Harry unthinkingly headed towards the place he always normally sat at meal times. As he approached the table, however, he noticed Ron already sat there glaring at him. Hermione was sitting next to the red haired boy looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Come on, Harry," Ginny said, grabbing his sleeve. "Come and sit with my friends."

Harry allowed himself to be steered over to where the third years were mostly sitting. Ginny found a gap and pulled Harry down next to her. This did have the unfortunately side-effect of having the hero-worshipping Colin Creevey nearly wet himself in excitement, but a glare from Ginny at least kept him quiet. Ginny's dorm mates, Demelza Robins and Vicky Frobisher, just both looked rather shocked, but fortunately recovered quickly. Soon, normal conversation resumed and Ginny could see the tension slowly ebb out of Harry. She began chatting to him about her classes that day while casually ensuring that he ate a good breakfast. He just smiled at her when she deposited another sausage on his plate; he obviously assumed she took after her mother in her desire to see him well fed.

In truth, Ginny had more practical reasons for wanting Harry to eat other than trying to emulate her mother's food obsession. She strongly suspected that Harry had been deprived of sustenance most of his life, to the point of malnutrition. Now he was at Hogwarts Harry could, in theory, eat until he exploded, but Ginny had noticed that he maintained his rather sparse eating habits. She supposed that Harry just wasn't in the habit of eating a great deal or didn't want to get used to consuming big meals only to find himself half-starved whenever he was dumped back at the Dursleys. But the fact remained; Harry was far too short and skinny for his age. This was something else she intended to address.

Breakfast soon ended and Ginny had managed to get Harry to eat substantially more than he would normally, despite his adamant refusal to allow her to spoon one more helping of scrambled egg onto his plate. She got the feeling he'd rather enjoyed her fussing over him, and for the millionth time cursed his relatives that had denied him any form of affection or attention. Their time would come.

Just before Harry left for classes, he arranged that they would meet up at dinner time. By that point he should have had a chance to speak to Professors Flitwick and McGonagall about obtaining some advice and, hopefully, a place to practice. Offering her a fairly cheerful cheerio, Harry stood and made his way out of the hall. Ginny watched him leave.

Fortunately, most people were now too preoccupied to give Harry too much attention. He, however, seemed very interested in something on the other side of the hall. He kept glancing in that direction as he walked until he passed through the door and out of sight. Ginny followed the direction he had been looking and soon located what had grabbed his attention: Cho Chang.

The girl was sitting at the Ravenclaw table chatting away to her friend, apparently oblivious of the attention she had been receiving from Harry. Ginny sighed. In some ways she was quite relieved that Harry's first crush was on the pretty, dark-haired girl. Although she was very attractive, Cho's personality meant that it was extremely unlikely that she and Harry would ever make a good couple. She was over-emotional, rather needy, and far too insecure. Even if Harry and Cho got together, Ginny doubted they would last long. If Harry had fallen for someone like Susan Bones or Hannah Abbott she would have been worried, but Harry had never shown any interest in the Hufflepuff girls. Obviously, blondes weren't his thing, not even strawberry-blondes like Susan.

That said, Ginny wasn't going to sit by and watch as Harry slobbered over Miss Chang. She would have to carefully draw Harry's attention to the girl's personality defects and encourage him that he could do much better. Very much better. Ginny would have to be careful, however. She might accidently alienate Harry if he got the feeling she was being unnecessarily nasty about Cho. It would be a fine line to tread.

Pouting at finding yet another thing to worry about, Ginny picked up her bag and made her way out of the hall. She had some thinking to do before dinner.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Ginny left the History of Magic classroom with relief. Clearly, dying had done something to Professor Binns which had caused him to become incapable of teaching anything other than the history of Goblin rebellions. Tom had also had the Professor for classes, and when he'd been alive the man had taught a full curriculum. Maybe he'd been teaching about Goblins the day he died? Whatever the reason, History lessons were a complete joke and the ghost should have been replaced years ago. What the Headmaster was thinking allowing Binns to teach she had no idea.

On the plus side, she'd been able to use the time profitably. Although Harry had promised to obtain a list of things to study from the Professors, Ginny had compiled her own list. It had started simply with a number of spells that would be useful, but had rapidly expanded to a much more comprehensive schedule of training for the young man. Dumbledore was doing nothing to adequately train the love of her life, so she would just have to do it herself. The plan she had put together extended far beyond the confines of the Tournament and was aimed at turning Harry into someone capable of defeating Voldemort, or Dumbledore, if it came to that.

Humming happily to herself, she started to make her way to the Great Hall to meet with Harry when something caught her eye. Darting into a shadowy alcove, she was able to unobtrusively observe two people who currently stood on the far side of the hall, apparently deep in conversation.

For a second, Ginny was tempted to check the date on her watch as, apparently, Christmas had come early. Standing there, seemingly oblivious to the world around them, was Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory. Both of them were lounging against the wall only a few inches apart. Judging by the expressions on their faces they appeared rather taken by each other. _Sorry, Harry_, Ginny thought happily, _it looks like your crush is off the market_.

With a skip in her step, Ginny continued down the steps towards the Great Hall. She'd have to be careful how she presented her discovery to Harry; the last thing she wanted was a love-sick, moping teenager on her hands. Not that Harry was much of a moper; angst-filled rage was more his thing. Still, the first sign that he was starting to write despairing, tragic poetry she'd be forced to kick him in the swingers, she decided.

She entered the Hall, and found Harry already at the table examining a roll of parchment. She slipped into the seat next to him.

"Hi, Harry. What you looking at?" she asked.

"Oh, hi, Ginny. I talked to Flitwick and Moody like you suggested and this is a list of spells they suggested I try and learn," he said before dropping his voice to a near whisper. "I also wrote to that other person for help, too."

"Great, let's have a look, then," she replied, accepting the parchment that Harry offered her.

She quickly scanned the list of spells and charms that the two professors had suggested would be useful. Unsurprisingly, Moody's list contained more offensive spells, including a couple of particularly nasty ones that she was a little shocked that a teacher would suggest a schoolboy should learn. Not that they weren't useful, mind. Flitwick's list was of a more general purpose nature and covered any number of different contingencies. Ginny could instantly think of a few other spells she wanted Harry to learn, but could easily drop them into their training sessions unobtrusively.

"So, what do you think?" Harry asked. "Do you think I have a chance of learning anything off this list before the first task?"

"I think you'll learn loads," she said encouragingly. "After dinner, let's go up to the Library and get some books to help you. Did you ask either of the Professors if there was anywhere you could practice?"

"McGonagall came to my rescue," he informed her. "There's a disused classroom on the third floor she's given me permission to use."

"Cool. Hopefully we'll have time to check it out after we've finished in the Library. See, I told you that the teachers would want to help you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did," Harry admitted. "I guess this means I should listen to you more often."

"Damn right!" she laughed. "Now eat some dinner. Honestly, I would have thought that you would have realised by now that if you want to associate with us Weasleys that eating is one of our favourite activities."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that and… Ginny, will you stop putting food on my plate! I'm quite capable of getting my own food, thanks," Harry protested.

Ginny, who had been busily spooning roast potatoes on to Harry's plate, waved away his protests.

"If I left it to you, you wouldn't end up with enough food to feed a sparrow," she scolded him. "You, Mr Potter, are as thin as a stick. I bet you'd get blown away in a stiff breeze. You're a growing boy, Harry. You need to be eating far more than you do."

Harry just blushed red and mumbled something about not having a big appetite, but he stopped trying to prevent Ginny from filling his plate. Instead, he just stared at the large pile of roast potatoes, parsnips, cabbage and roast chicken with a resigned look. With a sigh, he picked up his knife and fork and started to eat.

Ginny grinned in satisfaction at his capitulation, and began to fill her own plate. As she was reaching over to pick up a bowl of carrots, she happened to glance up the table and for a second locked eyes with Hermione. The older girl stared at her in an inquisitive and not altogether friendly manner. Ginny raised her chin and held her gaze unflinchingly, before Hermione scowled and looked down at her plate.

For a moment, Ginny continued to stare at the girl. Hermione was clearly upset for some reason, but wasn't certain what the girl's problem was. She couldn't be jealous, could she? Hermione had never paid any attention to Harry in that way before, could their sudden estrangement have triggered some romantic feelings within her? Or was Hermione blaming her for the continued feud between Harry and Ron? Mentally shrugging, Ginny decided not to worry about it. If Hermione was upset with her for some reason she was bound to confront her at some point.

Instead, Ginny started to concentrate on her food while continuing to glance round the hall. It was at that moment she noticed Cedric Diggory enter and approach the Hufflepuff table. Time to share a bit of juicy gossip, she decided. She leaned over to Demelza who was sat on the opposite side of the table.

"Hey, Demelza! You'll never guess who I saw Cedric Diggory getting up close and personal with earlier." Ginny whispered to the girl in a voice just loud enough for Harry to hear as well.

"Oooh! Do tell!" Demelza begged. Although Ginny liked the dark haired girl, she was a terrible gossip. Handily, Ginny had also heard her make several favourable comments regarding Cedric; that would be useful.

"Cho Chang, would you believe!" Ginny informed her friend.

"What!" Demelza exclaimed. "You are kidding! What would Cedric be doing with a sulky cow like her? Did you see the fit she threw last year when Ravenclaw lost at Quidditch?"

"Yeah," Ginny agreed. "She's always moaning, that one. A bit of a drama queen, as well."

"Oh, Merlin, yes! Do you remember that other bloke she went out with? That sixth year Ravenclaw? Thomas something, wasn't it? It wasn't long before he gave her the elbow. Said he couldn't stand her turning everything he said into a major crisis. I mean, she's stunning looking, but that's all she's got going for her. Cedric could do so much better," Demelza moaned.

As her friend continued her tirade against Cho, Ginny smiled inwardly. Out of the corner of her eye she could just see Harry following the conversation intently. Judging by the slight frown on his face, he wasn't taking the revelations about Miss Chang very well. Although this approach did make her feel a bit bitchy, Ginny couldn't feel too guilty about it. Chang was just all wrong for Harry, and she was doing him a favour by steering him away from the girl. And the true beauty of this approach was that Demelza was doing all the work for her.

After Demelza finished reeling off her long list of Cho's faults, accompanied by her thoughts on why she would make a much better girlfriend for Cedric, the conversation turned to the standard topic of Quidditch. Demelza was as big a Quidditch fanatic as Ginny, which was another reason why the two of them got along. After some prompting, they managed to get Harry involved in the conversation, too. Ginny noted that he looked a bit sick, but he began to perk up a bit as the conversation continued. The one thing guaranteed to get Harry Potter excited was Quidditch, she knew.

Eventually, dinner finished and Demelza left citing a pile of unfinished homework. Ginny glanced over at Harry who still seemed to be looking a little lost.

"Shall we head up to the Library and find some books to help you?" she asked.

Harry broke out of the trance he was in and looked at her. "What? Oh, yeah. That's a good idea."

The two of them stood and started to make their way out of the Hall. Ginny noted Harry glance wistfully over at the Ravenclaw table for a second before a thoughtful expression came onto his face.

"Gin, can I ask you something?" he enquired.

"Of course," Ginny replied. No doubt he was going to interrogate her about Demelza's comments regarding the lovely Miss Chang.

"Earlier, when you were talking to Demelza, you seemed really gossipy. I'd just never imagined you'd ever be like that for some reason. I know your brothers described you as a bit of a chatterbox, but it just seems a bit odd to actually hear you like that… not that there's anything wrong with being like that, of course!" Harry added the last part hastily, as if he realised he might have offended her.

_Okay, I wasn't expecting that_, thought Ginny.

"Well, to be fair I've only recently been able to act normally around you. That stupid little girl crush I had made me act like an idiot," she explained. "But you shouldn't be too surprised, Harry. All girls like to gossip a bit; even Hermione has been known to indulge occasionally."

"Really?" Harry replied, sounding shocked. "It just shows you what I know about girls."

"You're not supposed to understand girls, Harry," she assured him. "We're supposed to be mysterious and unpredictable."

"Thank heavens for that," he replied, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Here I was thinking it was just me being thick."

"Oh, that's definitely a factor as well. You are a boy, after all," she told him loftily.

"Thanks," Harry muttered.

Fortunately, Harry's ego was saved from any further bruising by their arrival at the Library. To save time they each took half of the Professors' spell list and split up. Half an hour later, they rendezvoused back at one of the tables with each of them clutching an armful of books. They began to sort through them to identify which would be the most useful. Soon, they had selected the ones they wanted and Harry picked the others up, intending to put them back where they found them.

While Harry was occupied, Ginny noticed Hermione had also come up to the library and was sitting a few tables away. Ginny could see the intense curiosity on the girl's face and it was clear she was itching to know what was going on. In fact, Ginny was surprised Hermione didn't just come over and ask. It was, after all, Ron that had fallen out with Harry, not Hermione. Yet for some reason Hermione appeared to be keeping her distance, apparently content to scowl at Ginny occasionally. Well, if the older girl wasn't going to say anything, neither was she.

Harry returned a few minutes later and eyed the remaining pile of books without enthusiasm.

"Do we really need all these, Gin?" he groused. "I mean, I don't stand a chance in working my way through half of these before the First Task."

"You don't need to work all the way through them," Ginny pointed out. "We'll just be picking out odd spells and charms here and there."

"I guess so," he acknowledged. "Between us we should be allowed to check these all out, right?

They gathered their collection of books and took them over to Madam Pince's desk to be booked out. The stern woman just looked down her nose at them.

"And what would you two be needing all these books for?" she challenged.

"Oh, I don't know," Harry growled. "Keeping me alive during the Triwizard Tournament, perhaps?"

The sour faced Librarian scowled at him, but nevertheless accepted his reasoning. She stamped each book before pushing the pile back towards them.

"Make sure they are returned in the condition they left here," Madam Pince warned them with a glare.

Quickly, the pair of them gathered the books and hurried out of the Library before Pince could change her mind. As they had an hour to kill before curfew they decided to head to the disused classroom that Professor McGonagall had informed Harry he could use. They hurried to the third floor and quickly found the correct room.

On entry, they found it was a non-descript classroom with all the desks and chairs stacked against one wall. Other than that, it was just a large empty space which suited their needs perfectly. As the Professor had furnished Harry with a key to the room, they decided they could leave the books there to make things easier.

Ginny grabbed the lists of spells and quickly scanned them.

"Right, what do you want to start with? How about either the Summoning Spell or the Blasting Curse? Either of those are bound to be useful," she suggested.

"The Blasting Curse is the easier one, right?" Harry mused. "Let's start with that and work our way up to the other one."

Ginny soon located the appropriate spell book and they set to work. This was a spell that Tom could have done in his sleep and she was confident she could cast it easily, as well. She read the spell description and incantation to Harry and then demonstrated the wand movements from the book. They then propped an unused desk up against the far wall as a target.

It took several tries for Harry to get it right, and several more for him to perfect the spell. Soon, however, he was happily blasting chunks of wood out of the desk and was beginning to be able to start increasing the amount of power he put into the spell. Ginny was slightly surprised he'd been able to pick it up so quickly, but was excited as to what this meant for the future.

"That's brilliant, Harry," she praised him. "You've mastered that spell in less than half an hour!"

"Well, I must admit I've had a go at that one before," he confessed. "Hermione tried to teach it to me and Ron, but we never got anywhere with it."

"You didn't have me as your teacher then," Ginny said cheekily.

"Of course, I should have realised that was the problem," Harry acknowledged with a grin. "Perhaps you'd like to give me a demonstration as to the correct way to cast this spell?"

This was where she would have to be careful, Ginny realised. While she intended to perform the spells correctly, she would ensure that she took a few more attempts than Harry had to get it right. What she had not counted on was Harry's desire to help. After deliberately over extending the wand movements of the spell, Harry pointed out her error and demonstrated the correct method. With little choice, Ginny performed the movements correctly and was rewarded with a perfectly cast spell.

"That's brilliant, Gin!" Harry exclaimed. "You got it faster than I did."

"Thanks, Harry," she said with a faint blush forming on her cheeks. "But I wouldn't have unless you pointed out what I was doing wrong."

Harry waved away her protests and continued to praise her. In fact, he seemed more excited that she had perfected the spell than when he had done it himself. This made her think and slightly revaluate him. Most boys' egos would have been badly bruised by having a younger girl perform better than them, but clearly that was not true in Harry's case. She had made sure that her deliberate error when making the wand movements was a small one, yet he had picked it up quickly. He must have been watching her intently to spot it, and she was surprised at the joy he seemed to find in helping her. She surmised that Harry had the makings of a great teacher if fate ever gave him the chance of picking his own career.

"Oh, crap," Harry exclaimed suddenly after glancing at his watch. "It's after curfew. We need to get back."

"Really? I didn't think we'd been out that long," she replied. Clearly time really did fly when you were having fun. "We'll have to be really careful getting back to the common room. Filch is bound to be on the prowl."

"Not to worry, Miss Weasley. I have just the thing to ensure we don't get caught," Harry said grinning. He reached into his school bag and retrieved a folded cloth object.

"Oh, is that your Invisibility Cloak?" she squealed excitedly.

Harry stared at her with a sour expression on his face. "Don't tell me; Ron and his big mouth?"

"Oh, yeah," Ginny said apologetically. "I'm not supposed to know about the cloak, am I?"

"Is there anything else Ron has blabbed about me?" Harry demanded, sounding angry. "Sirius, the cloak. What else? Did he mention what colour underwear I've got on?"

"I know what colour your underwear is, Harry. I've helped with the laundry when you were staying at the Burrow," Ginny informed him with a grin. She was delighted when his expression turned from anger to embarrassment in a split second.

"Great. Can't a bloke keep anything secret?" Harry muttered. "Come on; let's head back to the common room before you come out with any more embarrassing facts about me."

"Oh, I don't think that you wearing pink y-fronts is embarrassing, Harry. I'm sure that they really suit you," she teased.

"Oh, ha, ha," he groused. "Can we leave my unmentionables out of this? I mean, I'm not going on about what colour your knickers are, am I?"

"Oh, did you want to see?" she asked sweetly. A second later she burst out laughing as Harry's jaw dropped. "Oh, Harry, you should see your face! It's priceless!"

Harry shook his head. "This is going to take some getting used to, Gin. The only girl I'm used to being around is Hermione and she never once offered to flash her knickers at me."

"Ooh, poor Harry!" she rubbed his arm sympathetically. "You obviously just never asked her nicely enough."

Harry, obviously deciding any reply was just going to land him in worse trouble, just unlocked the door and pulled the Invisibility Cloak over his shoulders. "Come on, it's time to go."

Deciding she'd teased Harry enough for one day, Ginny just grinned and moved over to him. Harry threw the cloak over the both of them. Pausing only to lock the door behind them, they made their way back to the common room. And if she found herself pressed rather closely against Harry under the cloak, well, she wasn't going to complain.


	2. Chapter 2 - Front Page News

**Chapter 2 – Front Page News**

AN

Chapter 2 is presented for your reading pleasure.

Luna enters the story here (yes, I know she wasn't in GoF, but I'm writing her in, damn it!) and I have confess I've made her a bit more playful than in canon. We rarely get to see Luna and Ginny together in the books and I imagine they would make a great double-act.

Also, a word about Hagrid's accent. My wonderful beta Arnel changed a lot of what I had written, mainly sticking the 'h's back were I'd left them out. While Arnel is completely correct in terms of how JKR wrote Hagrid speaking, I, as a born and bred West Country lad (Somerset born, Wiltshire bred, to be exact) reserve the right to write what is my own accent in a manner I feel correct. I know JKR's a Gloucestershire girl, but she is a bit posh.

* * *

The next couple of weeks passed rapidly. The two of them continued to train in the classroom provided by Professor McGonagall whenever they could and making good progress. After the end of the first week they started to do their homework together as well to try and save some time. The result was that Ginny spent nearly every evening with Harry, either in the library studying or in the classroom learning new spells. Add in the fact that he was continuing to eat his meals with Ginny and her friends and it was no wonder that rumours were starting to spread about the two of them.

Of course, things were obviously going too well to last. Walking into breakfast one morning they were accosted by a group of sniggering Slytherins. Naturally, at the centre of the group was Draco Malfoy, who stood with a smug grin on his face.

"Hey, Potter," the boy called. "Do you like our badges?"

Ginny looked at the sizable badges that Draco and his cronies were all wearing. In large letters they displayed the message 'Support Cedric Diggory: the REAL Hogwarts champion'. Ginny was confused by Draco's apparent glee until the badges shimmered and the message changed to 'Potter stinks!' She suppressed the desire to roll her eyes at the childishness of Draco's actions.

"Is that supposed to impress me?" Harry said, clearly of the same opinion as her.

"What's the matter, Potter?" Draco taunted. "Does the truth hurt?"

Harry ignored him and pushed past the boy with Ginny hard on his heels. As soon as they entered the Great Hall she groaned. Practically everyone on the Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables was wearing the badges. To her fury, there were even a few Gryffindors wearing them, as well. She glanced up the table and noted that at least her brother Ron wasn't one of them, although he was scowling in Harry's direction. Perhaps Hermione had stopped him wearing one?

She could see Harry's shoulders beginning to shake in anger and she pulled him close.

"Don't give them the satisfaction of seeing you upset," she whispered. "Nothing will annoy the gits more than seeing you just carrying on normally."

Harry took a deep breath and resumed his way to the table and sat down at his now usual place among the third years. Demelza and Vicky both looked sympathetic, while Colin actually looked furious. Harry began to fill his plate without comment and at least gave the appearance of being relatively calm. Ginny slid into the seat next to him and greeted her classmates pleasantly.

Seeing that Potter wasn't going to provide them with any immediate entertainment, most of the occupants of the other tables resumed eating their breakfast. There were occasional taunts coming from the Slytherin table, but they were easy to ignore. The only real distraction was when Angelina Johnson laid into one of her fellow sixth-years for wearing one of the badges. The boy rather quickly removed the offending item and Ginny noticed the few other badge wearers on the table also removed them. She managed to catch Angelina's eye briefly and smiled warmly at her. The dark skinned girl just winked in reply.

Ginny turned back to find Harry attacking his sausages with a rather unnecessary vigour. Although he was doing quite a good job of appearing unconcerned, she could tell he was extremely upset. She immediately decided that the badges had to be dealt with and a plan began to form in her mind. It would require a bit of help, but she was confident she could arrange that.

Harry devoured his breakfast in record time, and made ready to leave. Ginny instantly abandoned the remains of her own meal, and stood, ready to follow him out of the hall. As they picked up their bags, Ginny noticed many people on the Hufflepuff table turn so their badges were prominently displayed. Harry fortunately just looked straight ahead and ignored them, while she sent a withering glance towards several people she knew within the House. Ginny was pleased to see a couple of the Hufflepuffs at least had the decency to look a little sheepish.

Once outside Ginny placed a reassuring hand on Harry's arm.

"Don't worry about those idiots, Harry. They're just a bunch of sheep," she said fiercely.

"And that's exactly the problem," he replied bitterly. "It's the Heir of Slytherin thing all over again. One moment they're all prepared to believe I'm pure evil; the next I'm a hero! It's like they all have the memory of a goldfish. And the worst thing about this is that Draco bloody Malfoy has managed to get nearly the whole school to do what he wants! I think the idea that everyone would believe him over me is what hurts the most."

"They just like to build people up so they can knock them down," Ginny agreed. "Screw the lot of them, Harry. If there's one good thing to come out of this, it's that you'll know who your true friends are."

"Yeah, trouble is that I don't think I'll have many friends left by the end," he said glumly.

"You'll have more than you think," she assured him. "And even if no one else stands by you, I promise I will."

Harry looked at her sharply. For a moment, he seemed unsure what to say and his confusion was written all over his face. Then, his expression softened and he smiled at her.

"Thanks, Gin," he said simply.

"No worries," she replied shyly. "So, what do you have next?"

"Potions," Harry spat. "I wouldn't be surprised if Snape is wearing one of those stupid badges."

"Probably," she laughed. "Anyway, I have an idea about those things. We'll talk about it later, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Assuming I make it through this class alive, that is. I'll see you later, Gin," he said before turning and heading off towards the dungeons.

Ginny watched him go with a feeling of fury building in her. Harry was the bravest, kindest, most selfless person she knew and the majority of Hogwarts seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable to taunt and humiliate him. She was sick of it. The fact that most of them were children didn't excuse their behaviour. Hell, most of the adults would dumbly believe whatever was written about Harry in the Daily Prophet, as well. Well, things were going to change, starting with those stupid bloody badges.

With her face twisted into a scowl, she turned and headed towards her next class.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

That evening, Ginny had just taken her seat at the Gryffindor table when Harry stomped in and threw himself down next to her. His expression alone was enough to scare most people around them into silence. She was just about to ask what had happened when Colin, who was seated opposite them, nervously spoke.

"How did the Weighing of the Wands ceremony go, Harry?" the small boy asked.

"Not well," he answered with a scowl. "Not only was the whole thing a stupid waste of time, but that bloody Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet was there, too. She managed to twist every single thing I said. That's when she wasn't just making stuff up, of course. For instance, did you know me and Hermione were engaged in a passionate love affair? Someone might have pointed it out to me; I didn't even notice!"

Ginny sniggered. She had to admit she liked it when Harry allowed his sarcastic side to come out. It was so much more fun than his sullen moodiness.

"And that was on top of a pretty crappy day already," Harry continued. "Malfoy was being even more of an arse than usual this morning. I honestly thought he was going to try and hex me right there in the corridor, but then Snape turned up and he was his normal ray of sunshine. I would have welcomed getting pulled out of the class to go to that stupid ceremony if it hadn't been such a pain in the bum. Naturally, all the other Champions think I'm a cheat, although I guess Cedric Diggory wasn't that bad. But I tell you; if that stuck-up French tart calls me a 'leetle boy' once more I'm going to deck her!"

"So, while every boy in the castle is drooling over Miss Delacour, you want to punch her?" Ginny teased. "Not too good with girls, are you? It's probably the reason your affair with Hermione petered out."

"Right; I'll have to remember this for the future. Either punching or completely ignoring pretty girls is a bad thing," Harry deadpanned. "It's just as well I have you to point these things out to me, Gin."

"That's what I'm here for," she giggled. "Anyway, eat up. We've got to go and have a chat with the twins after dinner."

"The twins?" Harry asked. "What do we need to speak to them for?"

"The badges," Ginny said with a shrug.

Harry looked confused for a second before understanding came to his face.

"Do you think they'll help?" he asked eagerly.

"Oh, there's nothing those two won't do for their sweet baby sister," she grinned. "Especially if I threaten to Bat-Bogey them!"

An hour later the pair of them had returned to the Gryffindor common room in search of Fred and George. They found them huddled in a corner, locked in intense, but quiet, conversation. They didn't look too pleased at being interrupted.

"What do you two want?" Fred said gruffly, with little sign of his normal good humour.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Ginny demanded.

"Nothing that concerns you," George replied sourly. "We're busy; what do you want?"

Ginny put her hand on her hips and glared at her brothers. She'd never taken any crap from the pair of them and she wasn't going to start now.

"If you've finished being grumpy, we need your help," Ginny growled. "It's these stupid badges that Malfoy has been handing out. We've got to do something about them."

"They are a bit amateurish," George conceded.

"Yeah, and honestly: 'Potter Stinks'! Is that the best Malfoy can come up with?" Fred demanded.

"It's not even true," George agreed. "Harry here is only moderately whiffy. Ron smells much worse."

"Oi!" Harry objected.

"Never mind that," Ginny interrupted. "We can't allow Malfoy to get away with this. Not only is he insulting a Gryffindor, he's trying to usurp your pranking crown. You're not going to let him get away with that, are you?"

"She has a point, brother mine. A slight has been cast on one of our own, and we cannot let it go unanswered," George acknowledged.

"Very true, my striking twin. I take it as a personal insult when Malfoy gets away with anything," Fred agreed. "What did you have in mind, Gin-Gin?"

"Well, I was thinking that the charm work on those badges can't be very complicated, can it? I'm sure an intelligent pair of pranksters could arrange for a different message to be displayed," she reasoned.

The twins grinned evilly.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Next morning Draco Malfoy made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast accompanied by his usual lumbering bodyguards. On entering the hall he was surprised to see that virtually all of Gryffindor House were already seated at their table, despite the early hour. Feeling curious, he decided to kill two birds with one stone by wandering over and baiting Potter, while finding out why the Gryffindors were all so prompt to the breakfast table that morning.

As he approached, he noted everyone on the table had turned to face him. It was then he noticed that all the Gryffindors were wearing his 'Support Cedric Diggory' badges. Draco felt a stab of excitement when he saw this. Had the Lions all finally realised what a fraud Potter was and turned against him? He looked up the table and spotted Potter, seated with his back turned to Draco a few yards away. With a swagger in his step, Draco approached him.

"Morning, Potty," he called loudly. "Seems like your Housemates have finally got the right idea about you."

Potter turned and faced him with a small grin on his face. It was then that Draco noticed the boy was wearing one of the badges, as well. His smile faltered as he began to sense a trap.

"Oh, morning, Draco," Potter replied in a friendly tone. "How are you today?"

"A lot worse for seeing your ugly face," Draco sneered, ignoring the fact he was the one who had approached Potter. "Why are you wearing one of those badges?"

"This?" Harry queried, tapping the badge with his finger. "Why, I happen to agree with its message. Cedric is the true Hogwarts champion. My name was put in the Goblet against my wishes and that of the school's. I'm more than happy to confirm that Cedric is the one who should be representing Hogwarts."

By this point, Draco realised that the badges should have changed to the 'Potter Stinks' message, but they had all remained the same. Obviously, the Gryffindors had managed to alter the charm on the badges to keep them displaying only the one message.

"Oh, managed to alter the badges, did you? Very clever," he said sarcastically. "It makes no difference; I've got loads of the original badges. I think it's very important for BOTH statements to be made, don't you think?"

"What? You mean this other statement?" Potter said innocently.

As soon as the words left the boy's mouth, his badge, and that of everyone on the table changed. Draco leaned in to ready what the badge now said. As soon as he saw the new writing he howled in protest.

"HOW BLOODY DARE YOU!" he bellowed. "I'll make sure the lot of you are expelled!"

"Oh, sorry. Was it a secret?" Potter asked smugly.

Draco was on the verge of pulling his wand out and hexing Potter, but at the last moment realised where he was. He looked round and saw everyone on the table laughing at him. It there was one thing he hated, it was being laughed at. Caution be damned, he was going to hex Potter anyway! Just as he reached for his wand, a familiar voice stopped him in tracks.

"What is going on here?" Professor Snape demanded.

Draco couldn't resist grinning in triumphant. Once Snape saw the offensive message on the badges he would dock Gryffindor so many House Points that they would be in negative figures for the whole year. He turned to his Head of House.

"Professor, just look at the disgusting message the Gryffindors have put on their badges," he wailed. "I've never been so offended in my life! You have to do something about this, sir!"

Snape glanced at the badges and frowned slightly.

"I see nothing wrong with them, Malfoy," he drawled, before glaring in Potter's direction. "A rather appropriate message, I would say."

"WHAT!" Draco screamed. "How can you say that! Wait until father hears of this!"

"What, pray, is exactly wrong with these pupils expressing their support of Cedric Diggory?" Snape demanded, his expression frosty.

"I… what? No, not that message. The other one!" Draco snapped.

"Do NOT take that tone with me, Mr Malfoy," Snape growled.

"Sorry, sir!" Draco apologised quickly. "I was just so upset; I forgot myself. But those badges have a second message. You wait, sir, they'll change in just a second!"

Snape raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Instead, he turned and waited for the badges to change.

And waited.

And waited.

"Well, Malfoy? What exactly am I waiting for?" Snape demanded.

"There was another message!" Draco insisted. He could feel his face turning red under the mocking gaze of the Gryffindors.

"And what did this message say?" Snape asked sourly.

"Malfoy manically masturbates!" Draco exclaimed. The Gryffindors would be in so much trouble…

Draco jumped as the entire table burst out into howls of laughter. Turning, he saw many of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were also laughing at him. He'd obviously spoken a bit too loudly.

"Quiet!" Snape called.

Everyone ignored him as the Gryffindors literally rolled around. Draco could feel himself shaking with rage at his humiliation. He looked appealingly to his Head of House to do something.

"QUIET!" Snape bellowed, and this time he managed to silence the table. "Is this true, Potter? Have you been making slanderous and offensive comments about one of your fellow pupils?"

"No, Sir," Potter said calmly. "I had no idea the badges did that. There was a pile of them in the common room and I just picked one up like everyone else."

"Well, remove the badges immediately. Everyone! I will not tolerate a pupil being insulted in this manner!" Snape yelled.

"How about we change the badges to say 'Malfoy Stinks', sir?" Fred Weasley called out. "Would that be acceptable?"

"No, it most certainly would not!" Snape snapped. "I will not stand for any derogatory comments to be made about Mr Malfoy!"

"How come it's not acceptable to say that about Malfoy, but it is about Harry?" Ginny Weasley demanded.

"An excellent point, Miss Weasley," a female voice said sternly. Professor McGonagall stood just behind Snape with an angry expression on her face.

"I will not permit one of my House to be ridiculed in this manner," Snape said, turning towards the Deputy Head. "I demand action is taken."

"I quite agree," she replied. "I had hoped that the pupils of this school would show a degree of adult behaviour, but it appears I'm to be disappointed. Therefore from this point onwards all badges, other than official Hogwarts issued ones, are banned! Everyone will remove them now!"

With some grumbling, everyone in the Great Hall who was wearing a badge removed it. Draco thought angrily of the amount of time he had spent charming all those badges. More to the point, he had been thwarted in his attempts to humiliate Potter. Scowling, he turned on his heels and stomped towards the Slytherin table.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Ginny watched Draco run off with his tail between his legs. Beside her she could hear Harry laughing and congratulating the twins for their marvellous charm work. The clever twist that allowed them to control when the message on the badges changed was certainly a master stroke. Everyone was smiling and chatting happily about how the whole of Gryffindor had got one over on Malfoy.

So why did she feel so unsatisfied?

Somehow, just stopping Malfoy from continuing with his petty little ploy just wasn't enough. The pathetic little bastard had once again tried to embarrass Harry and cast him in a bad light. Malfoy was so feeble she should just squash him like a bug and end his paltry existence for good. Perhaps if she could separate him from Crabbe and Goyle she could really make him suffer?

Ginny suddenly went cold. What the hell had she been thinking? Was she really making plans to ambush Draco Malfoy and torture him?

The thought had no sooner crossed her mind when she was assailed by images of Tom Riddle extracting exactly that sort of vengeance on people he had decided had crossed him. Often their crimes were so minor as to be laughable, but Tom had extracted his revenge, nevertheless. One image of a small blond haired girl lying screaming on the floor of Tom's orphanage stuck in her mind. The girl's crime had been to reach out and grab a dish of potatoes at the dinner table before Tom had taken his portion.

She started to feel sick. She'd had been certain that she had distanced herself from Riddle's memories and that they had no real effect on her. Yes, she could pick useful information from his recollections, but they otherwise had no bearing no her behaviour.

Now she wasn't so sure that was true.

Did the memories of Tom committing terrible acts of cruelty colour the way she thought? Did she feel their vengeance on Malfoy was inadequate compared to what she had seen Riddle do to the slightest of offences against him? If so, in what other ways was she being affected?

"Are you okay?" a voice whispered in her ear, causing her to nearly jump in the air. She turned to see a pair of bright green eyes looking at her in concern.

"Yes, I'm fine, Harry," she replied, a touch too quickly.

"Are you sure? The twin's badges worked a treat. I would have thought you would have been pleased, but you just look really upset," he persisted.

"No, I… I was just thinking about something else," she lied. "Besides, he still got off lightly, didn't he?"

"I don't care," Harry said, grinning. "I won't have to deal with those stupid badges being waved in my face anymore. As far as I'm concerned that's a result. Thanks for persuading Fred and George to do that for me, Gin."

"No problem, Harry," she said dismissively. "I'm sure my brothers would have done it for you if you'd asked them anyway."

"Maybe," Harry acknowledged. "But it was you that thought of doing it and you that asked them. Those things were really starting to get to me, Gin. Thanks for looking after me."

Ginny felt herself melt under his warm smile and affectionate gaze. Her cheeks were suddenly hot and she looked down in embarrassment at his praise. No matter that by Tom's standards her actions against Malfoy were completely inadequate; Harry thought they were just right.

At that moment she was struck by a sudden revelation. No matter how much Riddle's memories coloured her perception, Harry would always be the counter balance to them. He would act as her moral compass and she knew if she disappointed him it meant that she'd gone too far. As much as she was helping him with her inherited knowledge, he was keeping her grounded.

In short, she needed him as much as he needed her, even if he was unaware of their symbiotic relationship.

She looked back up at him and smiled. "Any time, Harry," she told him simply.

Maybe things would work out okay.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Poor Harry never gets a break, thought Ginny as she watched him growing angrier and angrier. She'd hoped that since they had manage to get rid of the annoying badges a few days before that they could enjoy their breakfasts together peacefully. Clearly, that was not fated to be.

She should have guessed something was up when she noticed numerous Slytherins clutching copies of that morning's Daily Prophet and smirking. On entering the Great Hall she saw people on every table eagerly huddled over copies of the paper. She could practically feel the sense of apprehension coming from Harry who had entered the hall next to her. Once they had taken their seats, they borrowed a copy of the paper from a nervous looking Colin and started reading. Pretty soon they both wished they hadn't bothered.

Rita Skeeter's article on the Triwizard Tournament had made the front page. In truth, rather than actually being about the Tournament, it was a thinly veiled character assassination of Harry. The other three champions were barely mentioned, other than to register their anger that Harry had been allowed to compete.

Harry was painted as a dangerous and delusional young man whose troubled past had led him to seek attention wherever he could. He apparently had a self-destructive personality and may even have a death wish. The stress of being nearly killed by the wanted murderer Sirius Black the previous year had finally pushed him over the edge and caused him to cheat his way into the competition, regardless of the fact that he would be hopelessly out of his depth.

In addition to doubts being cast about his sanity, his personal life was described in such a way as to make him sound like some lascivious Romeo rather than a fourteen-year-old schoolboy. His string of female conquests were apparently the reason his long term lover, Miss Hermione Granger, had finally broken up with him. After reading this part Ginny glanced up the table and noted that Hermione was nearly as angry as Harry. Ron looked furious, as well.

The sound of tearing paper made her look around and she saw Harry ripping Colin's copy of The Prophet to pieces. Colin was watching him with his eyes wide and his mouth firmly closed. Realising it was probably a futile exercise, Ginny decided she'd better try and calm Harry down, although in truth she was as angry as he was.

"Don't worry about it," she assured him. "No sensible person is going to believe a word Skeeter says."

"Yeah, but in case you haven't noticed, sensible people are a bit thin on the ground around here," he spat. "I bet most of the morons around here will believe every bloody word!"

Ginny was about to refute his words, but realised he was probably correct. Even her mum had a tendency to believe everything that was put in print. Most of the people in the hall were quite willing to believe the worst of Harry, and would lap this rubbish up. Of course, if next week there was a story saying that Harry was a wonderful hero they would probably believe that, too. Small minded bloody idiots.

Suddenly, an idea stuck her. She was right; a lot of people might change their tune if they read something positive about Harry in the press if it was presented correctly. Maybe it was time for Harry to receive a bit of positive press for a change.

Before she could tell Harry about her idea, they were interrupted by the arrival of the post owls. However, rather than one of the normal brown owls that usually delivered letters, a brightly coloured bird of a type Ginny didn't recognise swooped in front of Harry. Cautiously, he reached out and removed the envelope from the bird's leg. As soon as he saw the handwriting on the front of the letter, he hurriedly shoved it inside his robes. He glanced over at Ginny and mouthed the word 'later' at her. It didn't take much for her to deduce the letter was from Harry's godfather.

As soon as the exotic bird had departed, Harry began to virtually inhale his breakfast. Realising he was keen to get away and read the letter, Ginny began shovelling her breakfast into her mouth. In a couple of minutes flat they had both succeeded in demolishing their meals and they hurried out the hall. Harry was so hell-bent on finding somewhere private that he completely ignored the cat-calls and jeers being thrown at him from the people who had clearly believed everything they had read in the paper. Ginny resisted the urge to hex them and hurried after Harry.

They ended up in the third floor classroom where they had been practising spells and as soon as they closed the door Harry tore open the letter. Glancing over his shoulder, Ginny should see that the letter was extremely short; just a couple of lines. She hoped Harry wouldn't be too disappointed by the brevity of Sirius's correspondence. Harry finished reading and just looked puzzled.

"What does it say?" she prompted him.

"Sirius wants me to be by the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room at midnight on the twenty-first of this month," Harry explained.

"He's going to contact you via the Floo network?" Ginny gasped. "Is he nuts? He could easily get caught."

"I don't know," Harry said, shaking his head. "Sirius is pretty cunning. I don't think he would do this unless he was sure he could get away with it. Besides, I really want to talk with him."

"Okay, I hope you're right," she said. "When the time comes, I'll stand guard and make sure no one comes into the common room while you're talking."

"That's a good idea," he acknowledged with a smile.

"Yes, well, I'm full of good ideas today," she grinned. "I've got a suggestion how to counter Rita bloody Skeeter, as well."

"Really? Does it involve hexing her to oblivion, because if it does I'm all for it," he growled.

"No, but that's a good idea, too," she laughed. "The trouble is people are only reading what Rita wants them to read. I think you need to tell the world your side of the story."

"What, you mean talk to another journalist? It's not a bad idea, but who? Not many people want to go up against Skeeter," he pointed out.

"Have you met my friend Luna Lovegood?" she asked. Harry just shook his head. "She a Ravenclaw in the same year as me, and lives just a few miles from the Burrow. Well, her Dad owns and runs 'The Quibbler'. I bet if you offered them an exclusive interview they'd bite your hand off."

"The Quibbler?" Harry said doubtfully. "What, that weird paper that Hermione is always criticising?"

"Well, it can be a bit weird at times, but I bet that they'd print whatever you said accurately. I've met Mr Lovegood and I'm sure you could trust him," she said.

"A journalist I can trust? I'll believe that when I see it," he scoffed. "But you're right; unless I can find a way to get my story heard, everyone is just going to believe that crap in The Prophet. It's definitely worth a try."

"Great. I'll speak to Luna in class later. I'm sure she'll want to help," Ginny told him.

"Right. See you at lunch?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"Come on, Harry," Ginny urged. "You can do better than that!"

In reply, Harry just made a strange grunting noise that made it sound like he'd strained something.

"Come on!" she insisted. "I want five more."

Instead, Harry collapsed face down onto the floor of the classroom. He lay there, gasping for breath with his face an alarming shade of red. Ginny sighed.

They had recently started to introduce some physical exercise into Harry's training. Ginny's memories of Tom revealed he had played quite a lot of sport during his years in the Orphanage. It was strange to think that the boy who had later become the feared Lord Voldemort was quite an accomplished footballer. While at Hogwarts Tom had shown no interest in Quidditch, but instead had been a keen runner. Being physically fit had been of great benefit to him in many ways, and Ginny was determined that Harry should share those benefits. Unfortunately, years of malnutrition was not making it an easy job.

"You're going to kill me, Gin," Harry moaned.

"Oh, quit moaning," she chastised him lightly. "All I asked you to do was twenty press-ups. You should have been able to manage that without any problems."

Harry managed to turn a slightly different shade of red and mumbled something under his breath. Ginny could understand his embarrassment. He was rather small for his age and skinny as a rake. While she placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of his vile aunt and uncle, it did mean that it would be some time before Harry could display a good level of fitness. That could hamper him in extended duels which would require endurance. She began to think about brewing some nutritional supplements to help build him up a bit.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Knowing that she had arranged for Luna to meet them to discuss the possible interview, she moved over and opened the door. She was greeted by the sight of her small, blonde friend in the doorway, standing there with her usual serine smile on her face.

"Hi, Luna" she greeted the girl. "Come in and meet Harry."

The girl did as she was asked and entered the classroom. She walked directly to Harry, who had by now clambered to his feet. Luna stood a couple of feet in front of him, peering at him curiously as if he was an exhibit at some museum.

"Err… hello?" Harry said cautiously.

"Hello, Harry Potter," Luna replied. "You're very red in the face. What were you doing with Ginny in this locked room?"

"Nothing inappropriate!" Harry blurted. "I was just doing some exercise. Please don't print anything that says otherwise!"

"Exercise is very good for you," Luna told him sagely. "You are rather thin. In fact, a single Jarwobbler could probably pick you up and fly away with you easily. You probably should put on some weight to prevent that."

"I'll bear that in mind. Thank you," said Harry, clearly unnerved by the strange girl.

"Good, it wouldn't do for you to be snatched up and fed to the Jarwobbler's chicks before you've had a chance to be interviewed for The Quibbler," Luna added.

"So you'll arrange for me to be interviewed then?" Harry asked, gamely pressing on.

"Oh, yes, I'll sure Daddy will love the idea," she told him warmly. "In fact, I'll even interview you myself to save time."

"You?" Harry exclaimed, before he started to look embarrassed. "Um, sorry. I wasn't trying to be rude or anything, but surely your dad would want a professional journalist to conduct the interview?"

"Why would he want that?" Luna asked with a frown. "Professional journalists are all so boring. Who would want to read anything written by one of those people?"

"I think Harry is just keen to refute all of Rita Skeeter's lies about him," Ginny said jumping in. "He just wants the truth to be told."

"Ah, but don't you think that there are many versions of the truth, depending on a person's point of view?" Luna asked thoughtfully.

"Well, Harry would like the chance to present the facts from his point of view," Ginny insisted. She was starting to have doubts whether involving Luna was a good idea.

"Oh, well. I can do that," Luna said reluctantly. "I'm sure people will be interested to hear how Harry was tricked into being involved in the Tournament as part of the Rotfang Conspiracy. Only a Vampire could have put his name in the Goblet without detection."

Ginny groaned quietly to herself and noticed Harry glaring at her accusingly. This really wasn't proving to be one of her better ideas.

"Let's get this interview started, Harry," Luna said pulling a quill and a sheet of parchment from a bag she had slung over her shoulder. "Tell me; do you think the first task will involve Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?"

Oh, bugger, thought Ginny.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It was several days before Harry's interview was published in The Quibbler. An owl swooped down one morning just before they were due to go into Hogsmeade for the day. When Ginny had asked Harry if he had any plans for the visit he had just shrugged his shoulders. Clearly his estrangement from Ron and Hermione was playing on his mind, and he'd decided not to bother visiting the village on his own. However, it didn't take much persuasion for him to agree to accompany her. Under different circumstances she would have been thrilled with the idea of spending the day with him, but she knew that he didn't consider the trip was a date as such. Besides, he was worried about the Floo call he was supposed to have with Sirius that night.

Ginny could see the trepidation on Harry's face as he reached over and untied the furled up copy of The Quibbler from the owl. Once relieved of its burden, the bird immediately took to the air without waiting for payment. This was obviously a complimentary copy. Once Harry had un-rolled the periodical, Ginny could see his picture plastered over the front page. She resisted the desire to peer over his shoulder as he found the article about him and started to read.

At first, his expression was of one of quiet bewilderment but it soon changed to one of intense concentration. As he continued to read Ginny became more and more concerned. It was her, after all, that had suggested that Harry conduct the interview with The Quibbler. If it was a disaster would he blame her?

After about ten minutes spent poring over the article, Harry looked up. Ginny was surprised to see he was smiling.

"So what's it like?" she asked hesitantly.

"Bloody brilliant!" he responded enthusiastically. "Here, read it yourself."

He thrust the copy of The Quibbler at her and she placed it on the table to read. She had to confess that she'd been worried about what would be printed ever since Luna had conducted the interview with Harry. The whole thing had been, quite frankly, bizarre and Luna's interview techniques could only be described as bewildering. The blond girl had started questions only to abandon them half-way through, changed topics on the turn of a coin and quizzed Harry on trivial subjects of absolutely no relevance to the matter at hand. It was only now, when Ginny was reading the completed article, did she realise that he friend was a genius.

Throughout the article Ginny could see quotes and comments Harry had made, but rather than being spread out as they had been over the course of the interview, they were presented in a logical, concise manner. Reading the words on the page, they seemed like a direct insight into the mind of the Boy Who Lived, and they clearly spelt out his frustrations and fears, as well as his hopes and dreams. There was a depth and richness to the writing that made Rita Skeeter look like an incompetent amateur. In short, the article was a masterpiece.

"Wow," Ginny exclaimed. "I had no idea Luna could write like that."

"I know," Harry agreed. "After that interview I was dreading what she was going to come out with. But this article… it just says everything I wanted it to say. Come to think of it, it says a lot of things I was feeling but had no idea how to put into words. It's fantastic!"

They both looked over at the Ravenclaw table and saw Luna looking over at them. Seeing them looking at her, Luna waved at them and Ginny would swear that the girl's normally serene smile became even dreamier.

"Do you think Luna would like to come with us to Hogsmeade?" Harry asked suddenly. "I think that buying her lunch is the least that I could do."

Ginny grinned at him. She'd wanted to ask her friend along previously, but, until she knew how the article was going to turn out, had been reluctant to. As much as she wanted it to be a romantic visit for just the two of them, Ginny knew Harry wasn't ready for that, and Luna's presence would prevent him becoming uncomfortable.

"I'll go and ask her," Ginny confirmed, leaping to her feet.

Luna seemed delighted to be invited and soon all three of them were making their way to the village. Harry had been lavish in his praise of Luna's journalistic skills and had succeeded in bringing a faint blush to the girl's cheeks. Ginny suspected Harry would now be a firm friend to the sometimes strange girl; he never forgot someone who did him a good turn.

Being third years, this was Ginny and Luna's first visit to Hogsmeade, but Harry was familiar with the place and proved a good guide. While they were all having fun, Harry especially seemed in a very good mood and Ginny was relieved to see some of the pressure that had been building within him recently forgotten for the moment. With the first task only days away she was glad to see him relax and enjoy himself.

It was as they walked down one of the side streets that Ginny noticed a shop sign that caught her interest. She halted the little group and peered in the shop's window.

"Harry, when was the last time you got your eyes checked?" she asked.

"Not since I got my glasses. Why?" he asked.

"I think you're supposed to get them checked regularly," she responded. "Besides, those frames are getting too small for your face; they look wrong."

"You think I should get my eyes tested again?" he asked, examining the different styles of frames in the shop's window.

"Yeah, I do. Those glasses could be completely wrong for you now," she informed him. "And have you ever thought about contact lenses? Every time you perform some crazy stunt on your broom I expect your glasses to fall off. Who knows what they'll have you doing during the first task. Just how far can you see if something happened to your glasses?"

Harry removed them from his face and blinked owlishly for a moment. "I can see about as far as that lamppost. Beyond that everything's a bit blurry," he confided.

"That's about ten yards!" Ginny exclaimed. "If your glasses get broken or fall off, you'll be helpless. That's it; get in that shop now! "

Harry offered no resistance as the girls pushed him into the opticians. Three quarters of an hour later he emerged with a couple of sets of magically treated contact lenses. He looked both ways down the street and smiled.

"This is brilliant," he exclaimed happily. "I had no idea my glasses were so bad. I can see loads better than before."

"You look much better without them," Luna advised him. "You really are quite handsome and those glasses spoiled your look. It's quite lucky The Quibbler printed that picture of you wearing them otherwise you would have had witches throwing themselves at you."

Harry turned bright red and mumbled something about Luna having too vivid an imagination. Ginny giggled at his discomfort even if she agreed with Luna's words.

"Don't worry, Harry. We'll protect you from the over-amorous attention of all those witches," she declared, grabbing his right arm. Luna took hold of his left and the three of them headed back down the street. Harry looked rather surprised to have a witch on each arm, but not displeased.

"Thank you," he informed Ginny with a grin. "Are my wonderful protectors hungry yet? If you want to head to the Three Broomsticks lunch is on me."

"Lunch is on you?" Luna repeated in confusion. "Wouldn't it be better if it was on a plate?"

"Ooh, but think of the possibilities, Luna," Ginny disagreed. "Obviously we wouldn't want to get fluff on the food, so we'd need to strip him first. I think eating lunch off of Harry's naked body could be interesting."

"Pudding would be fun," Luna agreed. "We could cover him in custard and…"

"You two are NOT covering me in custard and licking it from my naked body!" Harry shouted much to the amusement of several people who happened to be passing by. He flushed bright red while the two witches sniggered.

Wisely, Harry decided to keep quiet for the rest of the walk to the pub while the girls discussed what they would order for lunch, generally in preference of gooeyness and lickability. Ginny could only giggle at the boy's apparent relief when they finally arrived at the Three Broomsticks. They entered the busy establishment and immediately began to attract attention.

Ron and Hermione were seated at a small table near the door and Ginny saw her brother's face harden at the sight of them. Ron started to stand with his fists clenched, but Hermione grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back down. She did look intently in their direction, however, and Ginny wondered if it was Harry's glasses-free appearance that grabbed her attention, or the fact that he had entered the pub with a witch draped over each arm. Either way, Ginny fully expected to be cornered and extensively questioned by the bushy-haired girl sometime soon.

As they headed to the back of the pub to find a table of their own, Ginny noticed Cho Chang glaring at them. As the Asian witch was in the company of Cedric Diggory, Ginny couldn't imagine what the girl's problem was.

They eventually found a table and sat down gratefully. As they perused the menus, Ginny leaned over to Harry.

"You should thank Luna and me," she told him with a smirk. "I think that entrance has established your reputation as a bit of a stud."

"Great, right after I was doing everything I could to disprove Skeeter's article painting me as some womanising scoundrel," Harry muttered.

"Whoops," Ginny replied, frowning. Harry had been particularly upset by that accusation and their entrance had probably not helped matters.

"Never mind," Harry said, smiling suddenly. "It was worth it just to see the expression on Ron's face. I honestly thought he was going to come over and take a pop at me."

"You might find it funny, but I don't," Ginny disagreed. "Ron still seems to think I'm about eight. I'm sick of his overprotective ways. Honestly, Fred and George don't act like that so why should he?"

"I think Ron likes to remind everyone that he's not the youngest," Luna chipped in. "He's rather insecure. It's a shame really; if he had a bit more confidence in himself he could be rather nice."

"Ugh! Don't tell me you fancy my brother, Luna," Ginny exclaimed with a disgusted expression on her face.

"Not really," Luna replied. "Besides, I think Hermione Granger has first dibs on him, and I don't think she'll share. As it looks like I'm going to have to share Harry with you, I don't think I'd want another relationship like that."

Both witches sniggered at Harry's outraged protests. Ginny made a mental note to invite Luna to spend more time with her and Harry. The two of them made a perfect Harry-teasing team. Before they had the opportunity to embarrass him further, however, a large figure suddenly loomed over them.

"Hello, Hagrid," Harry said, sounding grateful for the diversion.

"Ello, 'Arry," the large man boomed, before looking over at Luna and Ginny. "And ello ta you two, as well. Must say, I'm surprised ta see you over 'ear, 'Arry. I'd a thought you'd be over with Ron and 'Ermione."

"I'm afraid I've had a bit of a difference of opinion with them," Harry explained. "They think that I put my name in the Goblet of Fire and I think they're a pair of backstabbing gits."

"Oh, sorry to 'ear that, 'Arry," Hagrid said in a sympathetic tone. "But didn't the 'eadmaster say that you didn't do it? That should be good enough for the pair of them."

"I don't know what to tell, Hagrid," Harry replied with a shrug.

"Well, never mind that for the moment," Hagrid said. He looked around suspiciously for a second before addressing Harry in a conspiratorial manner. "If you come down to my 'ouse after curfew you might see some'ut interesting, like. Oh, best you bring your cloak, n'all."

"Err… okay, Hagrid," Harry agreed, looking a bit confused.

Hagrid just winked at him and then ambled off trying to look inconspicuous, which of course he completely failed to do.

"What do you think that was all about?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Ginny admitted. "Do you think it has something to do with the Tournament?"

"It's possible," he acknowledged. "I'm sure Hagrid would help me if he could."

"He's a very nice man," Luna agreed. "I've had some fascinating conversation with him about magical animals."

"I'll bet," Harry muttered under his breath.

"Well, the only way you'll find out is to go," Ginny said sagely, before dropping her voice to a whisper. "Just keep an eye on the time. Remember you need to be back in the common room by midnight."

Harry just nodded. It looked like he was in for a busy night.


	3. Chapter 3 – Dragons and Diversions

**Chapter 3 – Dragons and Diversions**

AN

Chapter 3 already! I have to say, this is a particular favourite of mine simply because of the Muppet Show reference I managed to work into it. This comes on top of me managing to get a Teletubbie into one of my earlier stories. I might try for a Captain Pugwash reference if I write a sequel to this (sorry, American, you'll have to Goggle that one).

This chapter also marks the start of the Ron-bashing, so if you are a fan of the gangly git this is your last chance to walk away. I'm warning you all; I've got a large pan of custard simmering nicely and I'm not afraid to use it!

Thanks as always to Arnel for her speedy beta work. I believe she is still in a state of shock after discovering that the Muppet Show was British!

* * *

It was twenty minutes to twelve when Harry eventually made it back to the Gryffindor common room. Ginny had waited up for him as she intended to keep watch while he received the Floo call from Sirius. She was a bit alarmed at how wild eyed he looked.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You look a bit peaky."

"Dragons!" he spluttered. "The first task involves bloody dragons!"

"What?" Ginny nearly shrieked, but managed to moderate her voice at the last moment.

"Yeah, Hagrid took me out to the Forbidden Forest and they've got four dragons caged over there. I saw Charlie there, too, by the way. They can't be thinking of making us fight them, can they?" Harry asked in a slightly panicky voice.

"Nah, dragons are protected creatures. Charlie would never have anything to do with this if there was a chance any of them would be hurt," she said after a moment's thought. "I bet they'll just use them to protect something you have to capture. Maybe some precious object or something."

"Great! How do you get past a dragon?" Harry demanded plaintively.

"No idea," Ginny admitted. "Perhaps Sirius will think of something."

Harry looked a little more cheerful at that thought. "Yeah, he might."

"It's nearly time for him to call, so you get in position at the fireplace. I'll keep an eye on the stairs to the dormitories and head-off anyone who comes down," she told him.

"Thanks, Gin," he said, grinning at her. "You're a treasure, you know."

Ginny blushed slightly at his praise and moved to take position to watch the passageways. Unfortunately, the archways leading to the boys and girls dorms were quite far apart, but she suspected that if anyone was going to indulge in a bit of nocturnal wandering, it would be a boy. She therefore located herself at the foot of the stairs leading to the boys' bedrooms.

It was a little while later that she began to hear quiet voices coming from the common room and she realised Sirius must have been successful in making his call. She grinned; Harry had been looking forward to talking with his godfather so much and she was pleased that nothing had happened to prevent it.

As if she had tempted fate with her thoughts, she suddenly heard movement from above. Quickly, she hurried up the stairs with her wand in her hand, intent on preventing whoever it was from getting within earshot of the common room. As she climbed, Ginny could just see a shadowy figure emerge from the fourth year boys' bedroom. As soon as she saw who it was, she cursed her luck. Of all the people she had to encounter, it just had to be her brother Ron, didn't it?

"Ginny?" he said in surprise. "What are you doing creeping about?"

"Never you mind," she snapped. "Where do you think you're going?"

"What's it to you?" Ron demanded. "And what are you doing here? You're not sneaking up to see Potter, are you? I'll break his bloody neck, if you are!"

"Keep your voice down!" Ginny snapped. "No, I'm not going near any boys' bedroom, thank you. Besides, Harry's not up there, anyway."

"How do you know? He's down in the common room, isn't he? What the bloody hell have you two been doing down there together?" Ron snarled with his anger mounting.

"Yes, Harry's down there, but he can't be interrupted," she told him forcibly.

"Why? What's he doing?" Ron persisted.

"Nothing that concerns you, so go back to bed," Ginny insisted.

Ron ignored her and started to descend down the steps. Growling to herself, Ginny raised her wand at her brother.

"I mean it, Ron," she said in a firm voice. "I'm not letting you go down there."

Ron glared at her, but he wasn't stupid enough to try to take his sister on face to face.

"Fine," he said starting to turn and head back up the stairs. "I'm not interest in what he's… _Petrificus Totalus!" _

In a split second, Ron had whirled round and tried to hit Ginny with a Full Body-Bind Charm. Unfortunately for him, Ginny had suspected he might try something like that, and had dropped to the floor allowing the hex to pass harmlessly over her head. A split second later she had sent a Stunning Charm back at her brother who was caught off guard. He collapsed into a heap on the floor.

Ginny crouched warily, but no one else appeared. She breathed deeply and silently cursed her pig-headed brother. Quickly, she decided what to do. Casting a Levitation Spell, she lifted Ron's limp body up and floated it down to the common room. Harry looked up in surprise as she entered.

"Harry? What is it? What's going on?" she heard a voice say from the Floo.

"It's okay, Sirius," Harry replied. "It's just my friend, Ginny. I think someone must have been coming down the stairs. We'd better wrap this up. Thanks for all your advice; you really have been a big help."

"Not that big of a help, Harry," Sirius said mournfully. "I wish I could have come up with something a bit more useful regarding those dragons. I'll give it some more thought and let you know if I come up with anything. In the meantime, keep your wits about you and watch your back! Until we know who put your name into the Goblet we have to assume anyone and everyone could be a threat."

"I will," Harry promised. "Bye, Sirius. You keep yourself safe."

"Will do, Harry. I'll try to speak to you soon," Sirius said, before the Floo flared and went dark.

Harry stared at the dying flames for a second before he turned back to Ginny. "So, what happened to you?"

"My darling brother decided he had an automatic right to know what you were doing. The git tried a Full Body-Bind Charm on me, as well," she said with the aggravation clear in her voice.

"Well, I'm glad you stopped him. I had a really useful conversation with Sirius, I would have hated to be interrupted," he told her.

"It's getting late, so you'd better tell me all about it tomorrow," Ginny replied. "In the meantime, we'd better decide what to do with sleeping beauty here. I bet if we wake him up now he'll end up shouting his head off," Ginny predicted.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Let's just leave him to sleep it off down here."

"Not a bad idea," Ginny agreed. "But I think we can add a little twist."

Ginny Levitated Ron's body onto the coach in front of the fire. She then conjured up a large, fluffy teddy-bear which she tucked under Ron's arm.

"Oh, doesn't he look cute," Harry sniggered.

"He has been acting like a big baby, so I figured he should look like one as well," she smirked. "Hopefully he'll sleep through until morning like that."

"Serves him right," Harry agreed. "Anyway, we'd better get to bed. I'll talk to you in the morning. Night, Gin."

"Night, Harry," she replied, before heading up to her bed. She'd worry about the dragons tomorrow.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Unfortunately, Ginny's late night caused her to oversleep, meaning she didn't get a chance to talk with Harry in the morning. In fact, it was early evening before the two of them managed to get together.

"So, what happened with Ron this morning?" Ginny asked as they sat in the disused classroom. "I didn't see him at breakfast at all."

"He slept the whole night on the couch," Harry said grinning. "Lee Jordan discovered him this morning and, of course, let the twins know. I gather a number of incriminating photographs were taken. Strangely, he didn't say a word to me all day."

"Don't knock it. It's better than him moaning and shouting all the time," Ginny pointed out. "Anyway, what did Sirius have to say?"

"Quite a lot, actually. He was especially worried about Karkaroff being around. Apparently the bloke is an ex-Death Eater who got a reduced sentence for testifying against his former colleagues. Sirius doesn't trust him one little bit. He could be the prime suspect for putting my name in the Goblet," he explained.

"Any ideas why he would have wanted you in the competition?" she asked.

"Other than to get me killed? Not really," Harry mused.

"That is NOT going to happen," Ginny said firmly. "We're going to get you through this thing without a scratch, you hear me? And on that subject; did Sirius have any helpful tips on dealing with dragons?"

"Other than that a direct attack on one would be useless, although I could have told you that. He did suggest trying to temporarily blind them with a Conjunctivitus Curse, but that it's bloody hard to hit a dragon in the eyes. Even if you do, most breeds have an excellent sense of smell and can locate you that way. Actually, Professor Moody cornered me earlier and advised me to play to my strengths, but other than flying I'm not sure what strengths I have."

"Don't be silly; you have loads of things you're good at," Ginny disagreed. "Hmm, you don't think he meant using your Parselmouth ability, do you?"

"What? Do you think that will work on dragons?" he asked dubiously.

"They're reptiles, aren't they? It might work," she speculated. "There's one way to find out; let's go over to where they are keeping the dragons and get you to try and speak to them."

"It's worth a try, I suppose," Harry said with a sigh. It didn't sound like he wanted to go anywhere near the vicious beasts, not that Ginny could blame him for that.

"Great! Grab your Invisibility Cloak and we'll head out. If we go now we should be back before they lock the front door for the night," Ginny ordered.

Three quarters of an hour later, the pair of them were approaching the dragons' enclosure hidden deep within the Forbidden Forest. From this position they could clearly hear the roar of the great beasts and Ginny was reminded of her visit to the dragon sanctuary in Romania a few years previously. The idea that Harry had to face one of these monsters scared her silly.

They carefully crept forward, hidden underneath Harry's cloak until they came to the edge of a clearing. From here they could plainly see the pens in which the dragons were kept. A few of the handlers were moving about but none of them were particularly close to pens.

"Okay, the coast is clear," Ginny whispered. "We'll sneak up to the nearest pen and you can try and talk to the dragon."

"What do you think I should say?" Harry asked nervously.

"Just try greeting it," Ginny said tetchily. "Oh, and if I were you I'd be very, very respectful."

"Good plan," Harry agreed.

They made their way forward until they were just a few feet away from the pen containing the Chinese Fireball. As soon as they had approached, the great beast became quiet and began turning its head this way and that. Ginny assumed that it had caught their scent and was trying to locate them.

"Quick, talk to the bloody thing before it starts breathing flames at us," Ginny urged.

Harry nodded and began making a strange hissing noise. The dragon's head instantly snapped in their direction and it began making snuffling sounds.

"What's it doing? Is it talking to you?" Ginny asked.

"No, at least not in any language I can understand," he replied. "Let me try again."

Harry began hissing at the dragon again. This time the Chinese Fireball did react, although not in the way they had hoped. The dragon let out an earth shattering roar and spat a long plume of flame in their direction. Ginny felt herself being pulled to the ground as Harry dragged her down and partially covered her body with his own. Fortunately, the fire passed over their heads and neither of them was harmed.

"Shit! Let's get out of here," Harry gasped and pulled Ginny to her feet.

A few moments later they were back at the edge of the clearing trying to get their breathing back under control. Fortunately, the handlers seemed uninterested in what had upset the Chinese Fireball and had not come over to investigate.

"That was a near thing," Harry said between gasps. "That dragon didn't understand a word I said."

"Well, it was worth a try," Ginny said, conceding defeat.

"You don't suppose it was because the dragon was Chinese, do you?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"Well, we picked a Chinese dragon. Perhaps if we picked a British one it may have understood me?" Harry speculated.

"I don't think that dragons have regional dialects," Ginny replied irritably. "I mean, can you even speak Parseltongue with a Chinese accent?"

Harry frowned and then made a peculiar noise which made him sound like he was trying to hiss and spit at the same time.

"Nope, I can't do Parseltongue with a Chinese accent," he confirmed. "How about one of the others? Maybe I could do a Hungarian or Swedish accent?"

"Do you even know what a Hungarian accent sounds like?" Ginny challenged. "Or a Swedish one for that matter?"

"Oh, I know what a Swedish accent sounds like," Harry said enthusiastically. "Dudley used to watch this telly program called the Muppet Show and they had a character called the Swedish Chef on it. How did he used to go? Oh, yeah _'put-de-chicken-in-der-pot'_… Umm, something like that."

Ginny stared at him like he had just grown an extra head.

"Err… maybe we'd be better off just forgetting about talking to the dragons and come up with something else," Harry suggested lamely.

"Good thinking," Ginny agreed, "and remind me never to rely on you for information about other countries or cultures."

"Probably a good idea," he muttered. "Come on, let's head back."

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The next evening, the pair of them were again seated in the disused classroom discussing how to get past a dragon. As the first task was only a couple of days away, there was a certain desperation to their conversation.

"I don't think there's any alternative to me Summoning my broom and trying to fly round the dragon," Harry said. "Flying is what I'm best at, and I can't think of anything better."

"I still don't like it," Ginny argued. "Dragons fight other dragons, right? They're used to taking on aerial targets. You might have the advantage of speed on your Firebolt, but I'll bet you'll still have to fly close to the dragon to capture whatever the prize is."

"I could try using that Conjunctivitus Curse," Harry suggested, reaching for one of the spell books they had obtained from the library. He quickly looked up the spell in question. "Hmm, it looks like it needs to be cast pretty accurately and the effect doesn't last long. I bet it will be a real pig trying to hit a dragon directly in the eyes, particularly if I'm on the back of a broom."

"And dragons are highly resistant to magic, remember," Ginny added. "If the spell doesn't last long on a person, I expect it will wear off in seconds on one of them."

"Bugger, it looks like I'm going to have to take my chances then," he lamented.

"Unless… maybe we're thinking about this wrong," she mused. "We keep trying to think of a spell to blind the dragons, but maybe we should be thinking of something with a more general effect. I mean, you're already planning on Summoning your Firebolt; perhaps you could summon something else you could use, as well."

"Like what?" Harry asked.

"I'm not sure. But let me ask you: who are the masters of creating big diversions?" she asked with a grin.

Harry barely had to think before he had the answer. "The twins?"

"Come on, let's go and find them now," Ginny said, grabbing his arm.

Together, they ran out the room intent on hunting down the pair of trouble-makers.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Ginny sat next to Luna in one of the large stands overlooking the arena. The day of the first task was here and excitement was at fever pitch.

Harry had been selected to go last in the task. Already, they had watched the other three champions' attempts to steal a golden egg from their respective dragon's nest, with varying degrees of success.

Diggory had managed to obtain his egg without sustaining any serious injury, but he had been extremely slow. Krum had been far more aggressive and had bombarded his dragon with the Conjunctivitus Curse. While this had worked quite well, it had enraged the dragon who had stomped over its own eggs, losing Krum vital points. Delacour had been the unluckiest so far; she retrieved her egg but had received a nasty burn for her trouble. Now, it was Harry's turn.

From her seat, Ginny could hear the Slytherins, led by Draco Malfoy, crowing in anticipation of the coming trial. Harry had drawn the Hungarian Horntail, the largest and most vicious of all the dragons. Even from her lofty perch, Ginny could see the saliva dripping from the beast's massive jaws and hear its razor sharp claws being dragged over the rocky ground. Having heard the bellowing roars of the other dragons, the Horntail was in a state of high agitation.

With a knot of fear building in her stomach, Ginny watched as Harry entered the arena. There was a huge roar from the crowd as he walked out, but few of the shouts were supportive. Behind her she could hear Malfoy yelling out his hopes that Harry would be incinerated and she silently vowed to hurt the boy badly later. For the moment, however, she couldn't take her eyes off the small figure standing at the entrance of the arena.

At the sound of a gong, Harry jogged forward a few meters and then took refuge behind a large rock. With the Slytherins howling in derision behind her, Ginny saw Harry point his wand skyward for a moment. She knew he had just cast the Summoning Spell and was now awaiting the arrival of his broom. She hoped that its arrival would shut Draco up for a moment, as she was nearly to the point of hexing the loud-mouthed fool.

A few moments later her wish came true, as Harry's Firebolt came hurtling into the arena. Sadly, the Slytherin contingent was silent for only a moment before they started bellowing that Potter was cheating.

In the uproar, no one seemed to notice that the Firebolt had a box tied to it. Once Harry had the broom in his hands, he hurriedly untied the box and opened it. As soon the crowd noticed what he was doing, they began to speculate was the box contained. Ginny took the opportunity to glance to her left, where Fred and George were seated further along the bench. Noticing her looking at him, Fred gave her a thumbs-up and grinned.

When Harry and Ginny had approached the twins and explained their problem, Fred and George had been delighted to help. They had stayed up late for several nights in a row, perfecting just the thing Harry needed to distract an angry dragon. Although no one in the stands could see, Harry was currently unwinding a roll of the twins' finest fireworks, all linked together via a detonation cord. The fireworks were selected to provide the brightest flashes and produce as much smoke as possible. They all hoped that once these were set off, the acrid smoke would blind the Horntail and mask Harry's scent, as well. With careful positioning, Harry would hopefully drive the dragon away from its nest, allowing him to retrieve the egg in safety. They would now see if the plan worked.

Carefully, Harry lit the slow-burning fuse and then levitated the pyrotechnics towards the Horntail. The dragon seemed wholly fixated on Harry, and didn't even seem to notice the string of small tubes floating towards it. With exaggerated carefulness, Harry lowered the fireworks to the ground slightly behind and to the right of the dragon. Despite themselves, even the Slytherins seemed interested in what Harry was up to.

Without warning, the first of the fireworks exploded with a deafening boom. The dragon spun round in alarm, only to shrink back as the second firework detonated seconds later. Although dragons were generally fearless, the thunderous explosions were completely unnatural to the animal, and succeeding in terrifying the beast.

As each successive firework exploded, the Horntail edged back further and further from its nest. Fred and George had designed the pyrotechnics to give off as much smoke as possible, and soon visibility in the arena was down to practically zero. Ginny nearly missed seeing Harry leap onto his broom and plunge into the billowing clouds of smoke. She held her breath and silently prayed he would be alright.

The final firework exploded and as the last echoes of the detonation died, a strange silence fell. The only sound was the occasional mournful cries of the Horntail as it shuffled nervously in the gloom; the only part of it being visible above the smoke was the tips of its great wings.

Every second felt like an hour to Ginny as her eyes strained to see through the murk. Worryingly, a slight breeze was blowing from the East and dispelling the smoke far too quickly for her liking. She began to worry that Harry had got lost in the gloom and had been unable to find the nest.

Suddenly, the Horntail let out a huge roar, causing every person in the arena to jump in fright. With the smoke thinning, Ginny could see the dragon lunge towards the back of the arena where its nest had been located. Gasping in horror, Ginny realised the Horntail must have spotted Harry. She sprung to her feet and was about to bellow a warning which, in all probability, Harry would never be able to hear, when a streak of red burst through the smoke and soared skyward. With joy in her heart, Ginny realised the blur was Harry, pushing his Firebolt into a near vertical climb.

Harry levelled off and brought his broom round so he could perform a slow pass around the stands. Clearly visible in his outstretched right hand was the golden egg. At the sight of this, most of the spectators started cheering, their previous hostility to Harry forgotten. The only jeers came from the Slytherin section of the stand.

The voice of Ludo Bagman boomed out, temporarily drowning out the crowd. "Potter has retrieved his egg, and appears to be completely uninjured! And he's done it in the fastest time we've seen today! Remarkable!"

Bagman's voice continued to warble on in an excited manner, but Ginny tuned him out. Instead, she intently watched the Judges Box, awaiting their scores. First to vote was Madam Maxime who gave Harry a nine. Dumbledore gave him a full ten, as did Barty Crouch. Karkaroff, who had given his pupil Victor Krum perfect marks despite the broken eggs, only gave Harry a six, and was promptly booed by most of the crowd. Finally, Ludo Bagman also gave Harry full marks. Even with Karkaroff's blatant favouritism, Harry was now comfortably in the lead.

Having seen the scores, Ginny started to force her way through the crowd towards the exit. Once she had managed to make her way through, she hurriedly made her way towards the champions'tent where she knew Harry would be heading. Only when she arrived outside the pavilion did she realise that Luna and the twins had accompanied her.

She waited patiently among the swirl of bodies, which included numerous members of the press all eager to interview the champions. Ginny noticed Rita Skeeter was one of the journalists present, much to her disgust. No doubt the vile woman was already planning how to present Harry's performance in the worst possible way. Ginny turned her attention back to the entrance of the pavilion and tried to ignore Skeeter.

The first of the champions to emerge was Fleur Delacour. The beautiful girl was immediately besieged by the press and it was only through the efforts of Madam Maxime that she was able to escape. A large percentage of the gathered journalists, mostly the male ones, Ginny noted, continued to follow Delacour and her Headmistress as they hurried towards the castle.

Cedric Diggory was next to appear, but he attracted a lot less interest than the part Veela. Nevertheless, a cluster of people soon surrounded him including, Ginny was pleased to see Cho Chang, who had flung her arms around the boy as soon as he stepped out of the tent. The young Hufflepuff was whisked off rapidly by his entourage.

Harry emerged next and Ginny immediately ran to him and grabbed him in a fierce embrace.

"Are you okay, Harry?" she demanded. "You scared the life out of me! I thought that bloody dragon had spotted you for sure."

"I'm fine," Harry replied a little awkwardly. "I got a bit lost in the smoke. I found the egg soon enough but I couldn't figure out which way I had to go after I got it. Once I heard the dragon coming I decided I'd just fly straight upwards. It worked a treat!"

"Take it easy, Gin," a voice said from behind her. "You'll crack the poor boys ribs!"

"Yeah, that was a hug worthy of Mum," said a similar voice. "I always said you two had a lot in common."

Ginny reluctantly released Harry and turned to regard her brothers coolly.

"Those fireworks worked brilliantly," Harry said quickly, possibly to head off an argument between Ginny and the twins. "I can't thank you guys enough."

"No problem, Mr Potter," Fred grinned. "Just remember to give us a mention in your next interview."

"Yeah," agreed George. "We always appreciate the publicity."

"Well, hopefully that's something I can help with," said a silky voice from behind them.

They all turned to see Rita Skeeter standing there with a smug smile on her face. Ginny fought down the impulse to immediately draw her wand.

"What do you want, Skeeter?" Harry snapped.

"Tut, tut, Harry. Is that really any way to talk to the person who'll be writing about you in the newspapers?" Skeeter asked. "But if you give me an exclusive interview, I promise to show you in the best possible light."

"Why the hell would I want to do something like that after the hatchet job you did on me last time?" he demanded.

"Surely you want to give your side of the story, Harry," Skeeter purred. "You wouldn't want to be miss-represented now, would you? After all, if I can't get the facts first-hand, I might have to… speculate, somewhat."

"What bloody good would giving you the facts do?" Harry bellowed. "Last time I told you anything, you twisted my words so they were unrecognisable! And that's not to mention the stuff that you just made up! There wasn't a single word of truth in your whole sodding article!"

By now Harry's shouting had attracted the attention of the other journalists. They stood around watching the proceedings with interest. Rita glowered at them in irritation.

"Seriously, Harry, you may want to rethink things. If you think you think my last piece was unflattering, trust me, you haven't seen anything yet. You don't want to make me an enemy," Rita growled.

"He can't give you an interview," Luna piped up suddenly.

Skeeter glared at the small blond girl. "And why can't Mr Potter do that, little girl?" she demanded.

"Because he's already agreed to give an exclusive interview to The Quibbler," Luna replied calmly.

"What!" Rita nearly screamed. "That pile of toilet paper?"

"Did you read the interview they did with me?" Harry asked. "It was great! I therefore decided I'd give The Quibbler exclusive rights to interview me throughout the Tournament."

"You'll regret this, Potter!" Rita snarled. "No one crosses me and gets away with it."

"Are you threatening me, Ms Skeeter?" Harry asked coolly.

"By the time I'm finished with you, you won't be able to show your face in public again," Skeeter said triumphantly.

"What? Just because I wouldn't give you an interview, you'd print a load of lies about me?" Harry exclaimed.

"Oh, I wouldn't lie, Mr Potter. Exaggerate a bit, maybe. Insert the odd bit of speculation, perhaps. It's amazing how emphasizing certain aspects of a story at the expense of others can change the public's opinion of events. There's nothing people like more than to see a famous figure's name dragged through the mud, and yours is next on my list for the full treatment," Rita crowed.

"And why would that be, Ms Skeeter?" someone asked.

Skeeter turned and found herself face to face with Albus Dumbledore. Standing just behind him were Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman, and they all had disapproving expressions on their faces.

"While I have the greatest respect for the members of the press," Crouch said in a cold voice, "I'm concerned to hear that you are considering writing about Mr Potter here in a less than honest manner. I would point out that this Tournament is an extremely prestigious event and I will not permit it to be tarnished by petty mud-slinging and person vendettas. Is that clear Ms Skeeter?"

"I hope you're not suggesting that I would print an inaccurate story…" Skeeter began.

"No, indeed," Crouch interrupted. "I'm sure that you will print the truth and only the truth. The Ministry values accurate reporting in our newspapers highly, after all. And I assure you the Ministry will be watching."

"I'm sure we will all look forward to reading your next piece with great interest," Dumbledore added. "No doubt it will be interesting and factual."

Skeeter glared at the three men for a second. A confrontational journalist such as herself had to be careful when choosing her battles. If she stood on the toes of someone too powerful it might not go so well for her. Angering a senior Ministry official, not to mention the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, would probably be more trouble than it was worth at this point.

"Of course, Albus," Skeeter replied in pleasant voice. "You know my work is always of the highest standards. It's just a shame that Harry here has chosen to talk with such a minor and discredited publication rather than a well-respected newspaper such as The Daily Prophet. Perhaps you might help me convince him of his error?"

"Who Harry chooses to give interviews with is none of my business," Dumbledore replied airily. "I must say, however, that the piece published about him in The Quibbler recently was a marvellous bit of writing. I'm sure as a professionally you appreciated it."

"I didn't read it," snapped Rita.

"Ah, what a pity," Dumbledore said sagely. "We could all learn something from such a fine piece of journalism."

Rita didn't reply but, with a slight nod of her head, she stomped off.

"Humph, arrogant woman," Barty Crouch growled. "Some of the things she printed about the Ministry's handling of the World Cup were outrageous. If she continues to give you trouble, Mr Potter, you let me know. Ms Skeeter is getting entirely too big for her boots."

"Quite right, Barty!" Ludo Bagman exclaimed, slapping Harry on the back. "Why, who would believe all that clap-trap about this wonderful young man. He's a credit to Hogwarts, Dumbledore; you should be very proud of him!"

"We are indeed, Ludo," Dumbledore said with a gentle smile. "But I'm sure Harry and his friends are eager to get back to the castle. We'll see you later, Harry."

Extremely glad to be given the excuse to leave, the group of friends hurried away. As they walked, Harry glanced back over his shoulder warily.

"What was Bagman going on about?" he muttered. "His face would have split if he smiled any harder. He's spent the last few weeks trying to give me advice on how to handle the first task, too. He's a judge; surely he isn't supposed to do that."

"I don't think he will let his position as a judge will worry him too much," George groused. "If you want my opinion, Mr Bagman has a sizable bet riding on you winning, Harry. He's going to do everything he can to make sure that bet comes in; rules, or no rules."

"He bet on me to win?" Harry exclaimed. "Is he mad? I'm the rank outsider. I'm up against three competitors who are all older and vastly more experienced than me. He's throwing his money away, surely."

"I don't think he has a choice," Fred explained. "We've been doing a bit of research into old Ludo and apparently he's up to his eyes in debt. It looks like he needs a big pay-out to get him out of trouble and that means taking risks. He's bet on you, Harry, because he'll have got huge odds. And to make that bet come in I'll wager he'll do everything in his power to make sure you come in first place."

"Great!" Harry said sarcastically. "So if by some miracle I do happen to win, I'll have done it by cheating."

"Bollocks," noted Fred. "You won the first task because you retrieved your egg the fastest and without a scratch on you. We might have supplied a bit of material help, but you won that event fair and square."

Ginny, in the meantime, had been doing some thinking. "Why have you two been checking up on Ludo Bagman? You only met him this summer at the Quidditch World Cup; what possible reason could you… wait! You placed a bet with him on the result of the World Cup, didn't you? You said he was up to his eyes in debt; he welshed on paying out, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he bloody did," George confirmed sourly. "First, he tried to pay us in Leprechaun gold and then, when we kicked up a fuss, he said we were too young to be gambling and we could end up in a lot of trouble with the Ministry if they found out we'd been placing bets."

"Basically," Fred continued, "the bastard swindled us and we can't do a damn thing about it."

"The git!" Ginny exclaimed. "I mean, you were both morons for trusting someone like him, but still. There must be something you can do?"

"Oh, we're not going to let this rest, I assure you," George said in a determined voice.

"But we don't have a lot of options left," Fred lamented. "We have no legal recourse and if we start pranking a Ministry official we could end up getting arrested. Basically, it's our word against his and we're a couple of school kids and he's a Ministry big-wig and ex-Quidditch star. Who are people going to believe?"

"We really should have got a receipt," George moaned.

"Perhaps I could denounce him?" Harry offered. "If I confronted him in front of Dumbledore or Barty Crouch they'd have to at least look into the matter, wouldn't they?"

"Harry," Ginny interrupted, "even if you did that, there would still be the problem of Fred and George gambling when they're not of age. Besides, you might see Bagman passing on hints and tips as cheating; I see it as help in keeping you alive. Sod winning this thing, I just want you in one piece when it's over. You didn't enter this competition and you have no obligation to anyone other than surviving. I'm not going to let you get hurt because you have some noble idea that you should be trying to win."

Harry looked at her sharply, before his cheeks started to turn bright red. He mumbled something before looking away.

Fred sniggered. "You should be safe, Harry. Little Gin-Gin's got her claws in you now, and there's no way she'll allow her property to be damaged in any way."

"Shut it, bonehead," Ginny suggested.

The little group continued to make their way back up to the castle. They were nearly to the front gates when suddenly their way was barred by a young, bushy-haired witch with a determined expression on her face. Stood behind her was a tall, gangly youth with bright red hair and a sullen look on his face. The witch stepped forward.

"Harry, Ron has something he would like to say to you," Hermione declared. She then turned slightly and grabbed Ron by the arm, dragging him forward.

Ron stood glaring at Harry for a second while Hermione looked on expectantly. She nudged Ron encouragingly.

"Go on," Hermione hissed.

"What the hell are you doing with my sister, Potter?" Ron blurted loudly.

"What?" Hermione gasped. "That's not what you were supposed to say!"

"Why should I apologise to this git?" Ron demanded of the girl. "He should apologise to me for not giving me the chance to compete in the Tournament! I could do what he did: just chuck a few fireworks about and jump on a broom. Easy! Besides, he's bloody taking advantage of Ginny."

"I am NOT taking advantage of Ginny," Harry yelled. "Where the hell do you get off accusing me of that?"

"You're always sneaking off with her," Ron accused him. "Dragging her into broom cupboards, I'll bet!"

"She's been helping me train for the Tournament," Harry snarled. "You know, just like any friend might do. Not that you seem to have any idea how a friend should act!"

"You bloody stay away from her!" Ron shouted. "I'll kick your head in if you lay a finger on her!"

"Oi, dickhead! I'm standing right here, you know," Ginny growled.

"Stay out of this, Ginny," Ron insisted. "This is between me and him."

"No, it's bloody not!" Ginny shouted. "Ignoring the fact that Harry would never, ever do anything inappropriate, you seem to assume that I would let him do anything I didn't approve of. When have I ever put up with any nonsense, Ron? You seem to think I'm some helpless little girl. How would you like me to hex you to prove I'm quite capable of looking after myself?"

"Oh, yeah? You're really capable of looking after yourself, aren't you? What about the diary, huh?" Ron responded sarcastically.

A sudden silence descended, as everyone looked at Ron in shock. No one could quite believe that he had been so tactless as to bring up the diary. Ginny felt herself trembling with anger and she drew her wand from her pocket.

"Ron, if I were you I'd make myself scarce pretty bloody quickly," George suggested, placing a gentle hand on Ginny's shoulder.

"Yeah, otherwise we might just let Ginny show you just what a prat you are," Fred added.

For a second, it looked like Ron was going to argue, but the look of anger on the faces of the assembled group obviously convinced him that would be a bad idea. Without another word, he spun round and stomped off. Only when he was out of sight did George release his grip from his sister's shoulder.

A loud huff made everyone look round. Hermione was standing with her arm's crossed looking like she was close to tears. She briefly shot an apologetic look in Ginny's direction, before she turned and hurried off in the direction Ron had disappeared.

"Do you think someone didn't stick to the carefully prepared script that Hermione had written for him?" Luna asked.

Fred sniggered. "Yeah, expecting Ron to remember anything not related to Quidditch is normally a bad idea."

"Still, if it wasn't for his rugged Weasley good looks, I would suspect Ron was adopted," George mused. "I mean, can he really be that thick, can he?"

"He'll be a dead man if he says anything like that again," Harry spat. "How dare he say those things about Ginny?"

"It's okay, Harry," Ginny assured him. "I'm used to him having the sensitivity of a brick. Just forget him. Let's head back to the castle and celebrate your victory."

"Excellent idea, my beauteous sister," Fred agreed. "Why don't we head down to the kitchens and see if the elves will prepare some snacks for us?"

"Yeah, and I might be able to lay my hands on a few bottles of Butterbeer, too," George added.

"Sounds good to me," Harry agreed. "For some reason, dodging dragons has given me an appetite."

The spat with Ron was quickly forgotten as the little group made their way back to the castle.


	4. Chapter 4 – The Awkward Truth

**Chapter 4 – The Awkward Truth**

AN

Short author's notes this time as, frankly, I've been working my socks off lately and I'm knackered. Okay, in this chapter you will finally get to see what Hermione's motivation for acting the way she has been is. You also get the lead up to the Yule Ball, which always a Fan Fic favourite topic. Oh, and if you think Harry is acting a bit out of character towards the end, there is a reason!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to review and sorry I couldn't reply to all of you. Huge thanks as always to Arnel for being my beta. How did I manage to spell 'Viktor' as 'Victor' all the way through this chapter? Gah!

* * *

Ginny sat on the edge of a desk swinging her legs in frustration. Harry should have been here ages ago for another training session. It was definitely unlike him to be late and she was starting to become rather worried. Had something happened to him?

In answer to her unspoken concerns, the classroom door swung open and a frazzled-looking Harry Potter entered. He looked over at her with slightly wild eyes.

"Sorry I'm late, Gin," he apologised. "Professor McGonagall kept me back to talk to me."

"Oh, really?" Ginny asked with a smirk. "Have you been a naughty boy in her class again, Harry?"

"Nah, it's just… err, you see, there's going to be a Yule Ball," he blurted.

"Right," Ginny said hesitantly. Why was Harry in such a state about a dance?

"Yeah, and as one of the champions I have to open the dancing," he moaned. "Ginny, I've never danced in my life."

"Well, you're in luck then," Ginny told him. "Mum and Dad taught me the basics before I started at Hogwarts. Dances and Balls are quite a regular occurrence in the magical world, you see, and they wanted me to be prepared. I'm sure I can teach you a few steps."

"Great!" Harry said enthusiastically before his expression changed to one of nervousness again. "Err… there was something else I wanted to ask you, though."

Ginny looked at Harry's pensive expression and sighed. She'd bet every Galleon she owned that he was going to seek her advice on how best to ask Cho Chang to the ball. Over the last few weeks Ginny had noticed Harry watching the pretty Asian girl intently. Ginny had hoped she'd snapped Harry out of his crush on Chang, but obviously not.

"What is it, Harry?" she asked, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.

"Um… I was wondering if you'd like to come to the Ball with me?" he asked.

"What?" Ginny exclaimed, nearly falling off the desk in her shock. Then a thought struck her. "Did Cho Chang turn you down, then?"

"Cho?" Harry repeated in confusion. "Why would I ask her? She's Diggory's girlfriend."

"Yes, but I've seen you staring at her all the time," Ginny blurted. "You can barely keep your eyes off her."

Harry shifted uncomfortably.

"I have been watching her," he admitted. "But it was only because of what you and Demelza where saying about her. I realised I didn't really know anything about Cho, so I've been watching her to try and see what sort of person she is."

"And…" Ginny prompted, interested at his reaction.

"To be quite honest, she seems a bit of a nightmare to me," he explained in exasperation. "She's always moaning about something and getting herself worked up into a state. Last week she was bawling her eyes out because Snape docked her some House Points. I ask you, if everyone in Gryffindor started sobbing because the greasy git deducted a few points the common room would be underwater! And she never stops talking about herself, either. I've never heard anyone as self-centred as her in my life, not even Percy. She never stops! Always banging on how wonderful she's going to look in the new dress she's getting, or about the fabulous new shoes she's going to buy in Hogsmeade. Cedric deserves a medal for putting up with her, in my opinion."

Ginny blinked. When she had bad-mouthed Cho to Demelza, all she had really been hoping for was to sow a few seeds of doubt in Harry's mind. She certainly hadn't counted on him performing an in-depth study of Chang. Astonishingly, unlike most other hormone-enslaved teenage boys, he seemed to be able to ignore Cho's pretty face and attractive figure, and actually look at the person underneath. Once again, Harry had managed to surprise her.

"Okay, so I can understand you not wanting to ask Cho to the Ball, but why me? There must be loads of really pretty girls gagging to go with you," Ginny asked. She'd decided to ask this question as a calculated move to find out what Harry really thought of her. Hopefully, she wouldn't regret hearing the answer.

"Don't say that," Harry replied frowning. "You make it sound like you're not really pretty, and you are. But the real reason I wanted to ask you is that McGonagall said that third years can only attend by invitation from a fourth year or above. I guessed you would really like to go, so I thought this might be a kind of thank you for helping me so much this term. You've been really brilliant, Gin; I would have been lost without you. I was hoping that you'd let me take you to the Ball and maybe let me treat you to some new dress robes to wear, just to show my appreciation."

"New dress robes?" Ginny gasped. "Where did that idea come from?"

"Err… I hate to admit it, but from Cho. As I was coming here I overheard her trying to decide what dress she would be wearing to the Ball. Her family's pretty well off, and I bet she has loads of clothes to choose from. I just wanted to give you the same option," Harry explained in an embarrassed tone.

"You don't need to buy me things for me to want to help you," Ginny said gently. In truth, she was genuinely touched by his thoughtfulness.

"I know I don't. But I want to," Harry insisted.

Ginny could see the hopeful expression on his face and she realised this meant a lot to him. Of course, if Ron found out that Harry had offered to buy her new robes he would hit the roof, but she really didn't care. She had to admit, while her existing robes were okay, they certainly weren't what she would have picked if she had a choice. Besides, he clearly wanted to show his gratitude for the help she'd given him in recent months, and he seemed very determined about the whole thing. No, she realised, turning down Harry's offer to buy her robes would be like slapping him in the face.

"Thank you, Harry. I would love to go to the Ball with you, and I'll even let you treat me to some new robes as long as you promise not to spend too much," she told him.

Harry smiled happily. "Brilliant, Gin! We'll go to Gladrags during the next Hogsmeade weekend. But are you sure you want to risk your poor toes teaching me to dance?"

"I'll have to now you're taking me to the Ball," Ginny grinned. "But I warn you now, if you think I'll be satisfied with one dance and then have you just sit around for the rest of the evening, you've got another thing coming. I will be expecting a willing and reasonably competent dance partner for the whole night."

Harry winced. "If you think your feet can stand it."

"Relax, Harry. There's a spell you can cast on your shoes that protects them from being stomped on. I know someone I can borrow a wireless from so we can start practising tomorrow," she informed him. "Now, enough slacking off. Start with your stretching exercises and then I want fifty press-ups from you tonight.

Harry sighed deeply as he started to shrug his heavy school robes off. It was going to be a long evening.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

On a Wednesday evening about a week before the ball, Ginny found herself sitting in the Library completing her homework. Harry had decided to go for a run to work off some nervous energy, but she'd had no wish to join him jogging round the lake in the freezing cold and dark.

For some reason, the library was unusually quiet that evening, and Ginny was alone apart from the virtually permanent resident of the place, Hermione. The bushy-haired witch was sitting a table away immersed in some ancient-looking text book and pointedly ignoring her. As Hermione had still not made any real effort to mend fences with Harry, Ginny was quite prepared to ignore the girl back. Instead, she concentrated on her Potions essay, intent on giving Snape no excuse to grade it as anything less than an 'O'.

Her attention was suddenly diverted by the sound of someone clearing his throat loudly. Ginny looked up and saw Neville Longbottom standing in front of Hermione looking nervous.

"Um, Hermione, I was just… um, that is… err, would you go the ball with me?" he asked, terror evident in his voice.

"Oh, Neville, I'm sorry, I already have a date," Hermione replied apologetically, before turning her head meaningfully towards Ginny.

"Oh, Ginny, would you go with me…" Neville started, before Ginny cut him off.

"Sorry, Neville, but I've got a date, too," she informed him. "I know Luna hasn't got a date yet. You could try her?"

"Looney Lovegood? You're kidding!" Neville exclaimed in horror.

"Yeah, well. Beggars can't be choosers, can they?" she snapped, angry at the boy's reaction to her friend.

Neville turned a bright shade of red and fled from the library.

"That wasn't very nice," Hermione said forcibly. "He was only trying to ask you to the ball. There was no need to be so nasty to him!"

"I don't need your cast-offs, thank you very much," Ginny growled. "And there was no need for him to be so nasty about Luna, either. I was just trying to suggest someone he could go with."

"Yes, well, the girl is a bit odd, you must admit," Hermione huffed. "I'm not surprised Neville wasn't interested in going with her."

"Luna is a lovely person," Ginny said, enraged. "She would have been a wonderful date for him if he wasn't so scared of his own shadow! And if Luna isn't good enough for him, he should have got off his arse and asked someone earlier, not right at the last minute."

Hermione didn't say anything but did look slightly chastised.

"I suppose you're going with my idiot brother," Ginny continued.

"No, actually, I'm not," Hermione snapped back. "It may come as a shock to you, but there are boys in this castle who find me attractive, you know!"

"I never said there wasn't," Ginny responded. "But bearing in mind the amount of time you've been spending with Ron lately, I assumed that you would be going together."

"Well, we're not!" Hermione responded angrily. "I suppose you've managed to con poor Harry into taking you?"

Ginny was furious! "Conned him into taking me? I'll have you know Harry asked me immediately after the ball was announced. I didn't have to con him into anything! What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's all worked out very nicely for you, hasn't it?" Hermione responded, narrowing her eyes at Ginny. "As soon as Ron and I are out of the picture, you move in and suddenly Harry is at your beck and call. It didn't take you long to worm you way into his affections, did it?"

"Perhaps Harry appreciates having someone who actually believes him when he says he didn't enter the Tournament! Maybe he likes having someone around who didn't drop him like a hot stone when he most needed some support!" Ginny raged.

"I never said I didn't believe him!" Hermione shot back.

"Then why have you abandoned Harry if you believe him?" Ginny demanded. "What's the matter? Worried what other people will think?"

"When have I ever worried about public opinion?" Hermione huffed.

"Then why are you staying away from Harry?" Ginny asked, interested despite herself.

Hermione looked troubled. "I never meant to abandon him," she moaned. "It's just that I hate to see him and Ron argue. They're my best friends in all the world and I can't stand it when they're fighting. I knew Harry didn't want to compete in that stupid tournament, but Ron was convinced and he's so stubborn about everything. If I kept talking to Harry, Ron would think I had taken Harry's side, so I've just been working on Ron, trying to get him to see sense. Not that you've helped!"

"What do you mean by that?" Ginny demanded.

"Now Ron not only thinks Harry cheated to get into the Tournament without telling him, but he also thinks he's seducing his little sister, too," Hermione said angrily. "At this rate, I'll never get the two of them back together as best friends."

"Have you ever stopped to think that might not be such a bad thing?" Ginny asked.

"What? How could that possibly not be bad thing?" Hermione shrieked. It was just as well the sour Madam Pince was nowhere in sight.

"Because Ron has been holding Harry back," Ginny said calmly.

"Holding him back?" Hermione said in disbelief. "Apart from the last few months, Ron has been nothing but supportive of Harry. You haven't seen the kind of adventures the three of us have had so you don't…"

"I've heard all about them," Ginny interrupted. "If you think Ron can keep a secret for more than five minutes you're fooling yourself. But people change, Hermione. When Harry first arrived at Hogwarts he needed friends his own age. He'd been alone for so long, he just needed someone who liked him for who he was. But times are changing and Harry can't afford the luxury of being a child anymore. Voldemort is going to keep coming after him and he has to learn to deal with that. He needs to train and become a great wizard. As brave as Ron is, can you imagine him helping Harry with that?"

Hermione's silence was its own answer.

"Exactly. Ron's jealous enough of Harry already. Can you imagine what he's going to be like when Harry develops into the kind of wizard to beat Voldemort?" Ginny demanded. "And Ron isn't exactly the hardest working person in the world, is he? But when he's properly motivated, Harry will sweat blood to accomplish his goals. You should see him; since his name came out the Goblet he's being doing loads of extra training and picked up dozens of new spells. Hard ones, too; NEWT level most of them."

The guilty expression on Hermione's face told Ginny that the girl had thought Harry and she had been sneaking off to do other things other than training.

"No, we weren't snogging in broom cupboards if that's what you were thinking," Ginny told her harshly. "Harry's been training hard. He's getting fitter and stronger all the time, too. By the time this Tournament is over, Harry is going to be a match for any sixth or seventh year in the school. And if I get my way, by the time he's ready to leave Hogwarts he'll be a match for Voldemort. And let me tell you, Hermione, if he's going to do that he can't afford to have dead-weight like my brother tagging along."

"Ginny, you can't mean that," Hermione almost begged. "We're a team, the three of us. We've done such great things together. We've saved the Philosophers Stone from Voldemort and saved Sirius from execution. And don't forget, Ron and I helped save you back in your first year. I figured out that it was a Basilisk attacking people, and Ron was right by Harry's side when he went to rescue you. You shouldn't be so quick to toss us aside!"

"I'm not suggesting that you won't be a big help to Harry but, truthfully, what will Ron bring to the party? I would have suggested he would be moral support for Harry, but the events of the last few months have shown that unless he's involved, Ron will just be jealous and petty. My brother is immature, lazy and never thinks before he acts. I can understand that you want him involved, but this is just too important for everything to be put at risk for the sake of Ron's feelings," Ginny reasoned.

"Why would Ron being involved be a risk?" Hermione demanded.

"Hermione, I've just got through telling you that I know everything you three have got up to simply because Ron can't keep his mouth shut," Ginny said in a cold voice. "Hell, Ron even started spouting off about meeting Sirius! What happens if a Ministry official hears that? Sirius could have been killed because of Ron's big mouth."

"Oh, I don't think it would ever come to that," Hermione protested. "Ron's not that stupid."

"Wake up, Hermione!" Ginny growled. "All it would take is for Ron to get angry and then his brain shuts down. He could say anything! For instance, imagine Draco Malfoy starts winding him up; do you really trust Ron not to blurt something out that he shouldn't?"

Hermione looked at Ginny with frustration in her eyes.

"Exactly. And Ron wouldn't last five minutes with the training Harry's been doing for the last few months. As soon as it got a bit difficult he'd be moaning he was bored or hungry or something. You'd be trying to learn new spells and he'd start messing round or slacking off. You look me in the eye and tell me he wouldn't," Ginny challenged.

For a second Hermione sat in silence before she suddenly stood and slammed the book she'd been reading from closed. Scooping her things up, she turned and stormed out the library without another word.

Ginny sat and watched her leave. As much as she felt sympathy with Hermione, or even Ron, she wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of Harry's progress. And heaven help anyone who tried.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"How are we going to figure this thing out when we can't stand to listen to it for more than a few seconds?" Harry huffed in frustration.

The golden egg was sitting on a desk between them and had so far resisted their best attempts at solving the clue. Opening the egg for more than a few seconds at a time had proved impossible due to the painful screeching noise it emitted. It was all very annoying.

"It's got to be something relating to the noise it makes," Ginny reasoned. "There's nothing else it could be."

"But all it does is scream at us," Harry objected. "What possibly could we learn from that?"

"Obviously the noise is meant to mean something; we just can't understand it," she replied. "We have to do something so we can understand whatever that sound is."

"But what?" Harry asked, the frustration clear on his face.

Ginny stared at the egg intently. Somewhere in Tom's buried memories something stirred. Something about a trip overseas? She tried to focus on the memory; it had been during the summer holidays after Riddle had completed his sixth year at Hogwarts. By this point, he'd long ceased to remain at the orphanage during the entire holiday and had devised means to abscond for weeks at a time without raising the alarm. That summer he'd visited Germany and Poland seeking esoteric knowledge. From the memories Tom had left, it seemed he'd had no problems communicating with the locals in either country.

Suddenly, it hit Ginny. A Translation Spell! Tom had used a spell that allowed him to understand both German and Polish without difficulties, and she was certain the spell worked on any established language. She leapt out of her seat and started search through the stack of reference books that they had accumulated. She soon found what she was looking for and triumphantly displayed the book to Harry.

"A Translation Spell," she announced. "If that noise the egg makes is any form of regular speech then this spell should allow us to understand it."

"Brilliant, Gin!" Harry exclaimed. "But how did you even know that this spell existed?"

"Oh, Charlie used it when he first moved to Romania," she lied.

"Useful spell," Harry noted. "Let's have a look at it, then. Is it difficult to cast?"

They placed the Spell Book on the table and began to examine the instructions for casting the Translation Spell. Ginny was fairly sure she could cast it correctly first time, but as usual she allowed Harry to figure it out first. Fortunately, he was a quick study when motivated and between them they soon managed to cast the spell on the egg.

With a little trepidation, Harry carefully opened the golden egg. To their surprise, rather than the unbearable shrieking noise they heard a clear voice singing.

_Come seek us where our voices sound,_

_We cannot sing above the ground,_

_And while you're searching, ponder this:_

_We've taken what you'll sorely miss,_

_An hour long you'll have to look,_

_And to recover what we took,_

_But past the hour – the prospect's black_

_Too late, it's gone, it won't come back._

"What the hell does that mean?" Harry demanded. "What would I sorely miss? My broom, maybe? I don't really own a lot else."

"I don't think they mean 'what' you would miss the most," Ginny said with a sinking feeling, "I think they mean 'who'. A hostage rescue; that would be a classic Tournament task. The Translation Spell indicates that the language being spoken was Mermish so I think we can guess where the hostages are to be taken."

Harry stared at her for a moment before his expression hardened.

"No way," he said flatly. "There is no way they are going to stick you down at the bottom of the bloody lake."

Ginny couldn't help but smile at Harry's declaration that she would be what he missed the most, even if she felt some apprehension at what that would entail for her. Maybe her opinion was coloured by Riddle's memories, but she really didn't trust the Headmaster to ensure anyone's safety anymore. Her experience with the Chamber had assured that.

"I'd hope that Professor Dumbledore would do everything to ensure the well-being of everyone involved in the task," Ginny began carefully. "But I must admit I'm concerned. I mean, his record of keeping us safe hasn't been too good, has it?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well, hiding a precious object like the Philosopher's Stone right here in the school wasn't exactly a smart move, was it? Every maniac in the world probably wanted to get their hands on it, and it actually resulted in Voldemort infiltrating the school. Bit risky for all the pupils here, wasn't it? Letting those Dementors guard the school was another winning move, wouldn't you say? Oh, and let's not forget that he fought to keep the school open even when he knew there was a basilisk on the loose," she pointed out.

Harry stared at her in amazement.

"Just think about it, Harry," she continued. "This is a school. You're not supposed to get attacked by trolls or Dementors, or have to fight off Dark Lords and basilisks, or risk getting hexed by the sons and daughters of convicted Death Eaters, are you? What exactly has the 'greatest wizard of the age' done to protect the pupils of his school? Did he even try to get you out of having to compete in this bloody tournament?"

"Not really," Harry acknowledged. "He just agreed that as it was a magically binding contract I had to take part. But I think you're being a bit hard on Dumbledore, though. I mean, if he'd left the Philosopher's Stone at Gringotts it would have been stolen, and just think what would have happened if Voldemort had got his hands on it."

"But how did Voldemort know it was in Gringotts in the first place? I'm starting to think the whole thing was a set-up," Ginny said.

"A set-up? Ginny, I was lucky not to be killed!" Harry protested.

Harry had previously told her all about the events revolving around the Philosopher's Stone, allowing her to fill in the blanks from Ron's version of the story. There were just too many coincidences for her to be comfortable with.

"Even so, Harry, the whole thing seems fishy to me," she insisted. "Doesn't it seem strange to you that Hagrid was instructed to collect the stone at the same time he takes you shopping? If the stone was so important why was Hagrid wandering around Diagon Alley with it in his pocket? And as lovely as Hagrid is, he's not exactly the best at keeping a secret, is he?"

Harry shrugged but didn't disagree with her.

"So the stone is then hidden here, in a school full of vulnerable children. Dumbledore then tells the whole school to stay away from the third floor corridor or face a painful death, therefore announcing to everyone that there is something important there. Why even mention it? If there's anything a bunch of nosy kids will do is head straight for any place they've been expressly told to stay away from. And it's not like the corridor was hard to get into; Hermione managed to open the door to it when she was a first year!"

"Yeah, that does sound a bit weird when you mention it," Harry agreed.

"And what about the actual tests you had to get past? Ignoring the fact that the whole idea of giving a potential thief the chance of stealing the stone by passing a few tests was a really dumb, don't you think the tests themselves were rather geared towards Hermione, Ron and yourself?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"First of all you had to get past a giant three-headed dog that can be put to sleep by having music played to it. Isn't it a bit of a coincidence that Hagrid just happens to give you a flute for Christmas? Did you at any time express an interest in learning to play a musical instrument, Harry?" she pressed.

"No, but I really can't see Hagrid being this cunning or deceitful," Harry objected.

"Neither can I," she admitted. "But I can see Dumbledore manipulating him to do something. But getting back to the tests, we then had a Devils Snare to get past. Not exactly deadly, is it? A light or fire spell will deal with it easily. I'm sure Professor Sprout could have come up with something better than that. Then what do we have? A chess problem which could have been designed for Ron, a flying challenge which you would have no problem with, and a logic test which Hermione could probably have done in her sleep. Oh, and of course a Troll which you three had already defeated once before. Funny how the final test meant only you got through to the end, wasn't it? And finally, the Mirror of Erised, which you had previously managed to 'stumble' upon. If the Mirror was as dangerous as Dumbledore said, why was it kept in an unlocked room where anyone could find it? Could it be that you were meant to find it originally so you would know what to do later?"

"But what would be the point of setting this all up?" Harry demanded.

"I'm not sure," Ginny admitted. "It could be the Headmaster wanted to test you. Or maybe he wanted you to actually face Voldemort. Could the great Albus Dumbledore really not figure out something was wrong with Professor Quirrell? He couldn't have been hired because he was such a great teacher, could he? So what was he doing at Hogwarts and why didn't Dumbledore notice he was possessed?"

"Dumbledore hired Lockhart," Harry pointed out. "Maybe he just didn't have any other options at the time?"

"Yeah, well, Lockhart is equally suspicious, if you ask me," Ginny replied. "A knowledgeable wizard has only to glance at one of that big poof's books to know he was a fraud, but Dumbledore still hired him. And once again, three school kids figured out where the Chamber of Secrets was before the greatest wizard of our age. And once again you had to face Voldemort by yourself. What are the odds of that happening two years in a row?"

By this point Harry was frowning and looking rather upset.

"And there's a load of other things I could mention, too. Giving a thirteen-year-old girl a Time Turner so she can work herself into the ground? Could the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot really not stop Fudge placing Dementors around a school? Why not declare this Tournament void and start again, or just stage three really easy tasks to satisfy the contract before starting again? Why didn't he protect the Goblet of Fire better? Why did he virtually abandon you with abusive relatives for ten years and ignore you? Why have you not been given any special training despite that fact you are a huge target for Voldemort? Why has he allowed Snape to treat you like dirt just because the man didn't like your father? Why has…"

"Okay! I get the message," Harry interrupted. "But why is he like this? Is he incompetent or is he just using me for some reason?"

"I don't know, Harry," Ginny admitted. "But I'll tell you; I don't trust him one little bit. I'm not convinced he has your best interests at heart, Harry. I'm not saying he's trying to get you hurt or anything, but I think you should think carefully about anything he tells you."

"Okay, I can do that," Harry agreed. "Which leads us back to what we're going to do about the second task?"

"I think the only thing we can do is to continue your training and start researching how you can stay underwater for an hour," she recommended. "At least we have a few months to come up with something."

"Yeah, just as well you figured out the egg clue so quickly. This is not the kind of thing you want to do on the fly," Harry agreed. "Come on, he have an hour until curfew. Let's hit the library."

As they packed up their stuff, Ginny reflected that this time she was going to have to put herself on the line for Harry. While she had absolute faith in him, she couldn't say the same about the old wizard who was apparently pulling the strings.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Gazing at her reflection in the mirror, Ginny had to admit she wasn't looking too bad at all. It had taken over two hours to get ready, but it was worth the effort.

"You look fantastic, Ginny!" Demelza said enthusiastically, looking over Ginny's shoulder.

Neither of Ginny's two roommates had been invited to the ball, and both had been rather surly when they learned she would be attending with Harry. However, when Ginny had begged her friends to help her prepare they had soon forgotten their churlishness and thrown themselves into the task.

The results were definitely impressive. Ginny's normally straight hair had been teased and fluffed into a mass of coppery curls which hung down to her bare shoulders. Vicky had proved an expert in the tasteful application of make-up which emphasised Ginny's attractive brown eyes and given her lips a luxurious shine. Her teal green dress, purchased just a week ago at Harry's expense, fitted perfectly and made the most of her rather limited curves. In a few years she was certain she would inherit the voluptuous figure that prevailed in the Weasley and Prewitt lines, but currently her thirteen-year-old body was only just beginning to display any signs of development.

Still, she was looking quite classy, and could have easily passed for a girl several years older than she actually was. A simple silver necklace and a matching pair of earrings gave the outfit the final touch of sophistication. Of course, the effort might well be wasted on an unworldly fourteen-year-old boy, but never mind.

"Harry is already waiting for you downstairs," announced Vicky who had just returned to the girls' room after nipping out to check the common room. "He's looking very smart in his dress robes."

"Right, I'd better get down there, then," she said nervously.

"Have a great time," Demelza said encouragingly.

Ginny smiled gratefully at her dark haired friend and made her way down the steps to the common room. Quite a few boys were scattered round the room awaiting their dates, but Harry's mop of black hair was instantly recognisable. As she headed in his direction, he looked up and saw her approaching. He instantly leapt to his feet and broke into a wide smile.

"Wow, Ginny, you look great!" he said enthusiastically. "That dress really suits you. Your hair looks really good like that, too."

"Thank you, Harry," Ginny replied, her cheeks glowing at the praise. Frankly, she was surprised that Harry had even noticed her appearance, let alone complimented her so extravagantly. This was not normal behaviour for Mr Harry 'dense about girls' Potter. To reinforce this, Harry offered his arm to her.

"Shall we, then?" he asked politely.

Ginny could hardly keep the grin off her face as she linked her arm with his. If Harry kept this behaviour up all evening she was going to have a splendid time!

As they made their way over to the door, Ginny noticed something which changed her grin to a scowl. Ron and Neville were standing together on the far side of the common room glaring at them. Her brother, in particular, looked furious. Mind you, Ginny thought, if she'd been forced to wear a set of dress robes that ugly, she'd have been furious, too.

"What was their problem?" Ginny asked Harry as they passed through the portrait entrance.

"Oh, they've been in a mood all day," Harry said dismissively. "First, Ron started moaning at me for taking you to the Ball, then Neville started whingeing that you'd tried to set him up with Luna, which in turn set Ron off again. They both said some pretty rotten things about Luna."

"What did you do?" she asked curiously.

"I suggested if they didn't shut their mouths, I'd do it for them with my fist," Harry shrugged. "Neville took the hint and shut up, but Ron started getting all belligerent. He was yelling so much that the twins could hear him from their room. They came down and 'suggested' he should keep his opinions to himself."

"Good for Fred and George!" Ginny said fiercely. "I tell you, Ron is a hair's breadth from getting hexed. I'm sick of his attitude. He's never liked Luna, even when she came over the Burrow to play with me when we were little girls. And if he says one word about us going to the Ball together, I swear he'll be spending Christmas in the hospital wing."

Harry sniggered. "Did anyone ask Luna to the ball?" he asked presently.

"No," Ginny admitted, "but she didn't seem too bothered about it. She gave me a long and detailed account of how boys are all infested with strange invisible bugs and how she would be at risk of being infested by them if she had to dance with anyone."

"Oh, aren't you worried that I'll infest you, then?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"Nah, you seem to bath quite regularly, which is more than I can say for most of the boys round here," she replied primly.

"Ah! So that's why you agreed to come to the ball with me; I'm clean," he laughed.

"Of course. Did you think there was any other reason?" she asked with mock seriousness.

"Nope, I'm proud of my reputation of being the cleanest fourth year in Gryffindor," he replied loftily.

Ginny giggled. "So, did Neville and my moron brother find dates, or are they going together? They do make a lovely couple, after all."

"Would you believe they're going with Padma and Parvati?" Harry told her. "Ron managed to persuade them two days ago."

"The Patil twins?" Ginny gasped. "How did those two manage to end up going with two of the prettiest girls in school?"

"Quite simply, no one else asked the twins," he explained. "Padma is really snooty and Parvati is giggly and annoying. Ron and Neville are welcome to them, believe me."

By this time Harry and Ginny had reached the entrance to the Great Hall. Most of the other champions had already arrived and were standing with their dates waiting to enter. Ginny had to admit that Cedric and Cho made a striking couple, while Fleur already looked fed up with her date, Ravenclaw's Quidditch captain Roger Davies, who was practically drooling over her arm. Ginny looked around trying to spot Viktor Krum to see who he'd brought. When she spotted him and his date she nearly fainted with shock.

"Harry! Look who Victor Krum's date is!" she exclaimed.

For a second, Harry peered around trying to locate Krum. When he did, his jaw dropped in amazement. "Hermione! Viktor Krum asked Hermione to the ball?" he gasped.

"Wow, she's looking pretty good, isn't she?" Ginny acknowledged. "She's really made an effort tonight."

"Yeah, I've never seen her wear a dress," Harry admitted. "Or make-up. Or without frizzy hair. Why doesn't she look like that all the time?"

"She normally hangs around with you and Ron," Ginny teased. "Why on earth would she make the effort for you two?"

"Thanks," Harry said flatly.

Hermione must have noticed them looking at her as, after having a quick word with Viktor, she hurried over to them.

"Hello Harry, Ginny. Can I have a word?" she asked nervously.

"I guess," Harry said in a rather unfriendly tone.

"Look, I just wanted to apologise to both of you," Hermione said. "I'm really sorry I've been avoiding you, Harry. I really do believe you when you say you didn't put your name in the Goblet, honestly. And I'm sorry about those things I said about you in the library, Ginny. I had no right to say them; especially as you've proved to be a better friend to Harry than I have been over the last few months."

"But if you believed I was telling the truth then why have you been avoiding me?" Harry demanded. "And what have you been saying about Ginny? I haven't heard anything about this."

Hermione squirmed uncomfortably. "I thought I could change Ron's mind and convince him that you weren't lying. The trouble was, if I continued being friendly with you, then he would have thought I was taking your side, you know what he's like. Unfortunately, when you started getting friendly with Ginny, Ron thought you were talking advantage of her crush on you and really dug his heels in. In my frustration, I'm afraid I said some unpleasant things to Ginny that I really didn't mean. I just wanted things to be back the way they were."

"You wanted things back the way they were?" Harry repeated. "You had a bloody funny way of going about it, then. You might have been worried about Ron thinking you were taking sides, but by ignoring me you were physically abandoning me to my fate! Bloody hell, Hermione, I had to face a dragon! Don't you think your help would have been useful in dealing with that? It would have been a bit hard to get Ron to be friends with me again if I'd ended up a smouldering pile of ash."

"I know," Hermione moaned. "I was being stupid. I really thought I'd succeeded in convincing Ron to apologise right after the first task, but when he saw you and Ginny together he just got angry again."

"Even if he did apologise then, the damage was done by that point," Ginny pointed out. "Harry was facing a life or death situation and needed your help, Hermione. Instead, just to keep Ron sweet you left Harry to his own devises. Do you really think keeping Ron happy is more important than Harry's life?"

"Of course I don't! I was just…" Hermione started to say.

"And why were you having a go at Ginny?" Harry interrupted. "You make her sound like some silly little girl fawning over me or something. Ginny's been brilliant! She's helped me research spells and make plans. She's supported me when I've needed it and provided whatever help she could. It was her idea for me to do that interview with The Quibbler, which worked out great. You were right, Hermione; Ginny's been a much better friend to me than either you or Ron."

Hermione's shoulders sagged and she looked close to tears. "So where does this leave us, Harry?" she asked.

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "I won't deny that I miss you and even Ron, but you've both really hurt me and I don't know if things will ever be the same. I guess all I can say is that actions speak louder than words. If you continue to avoid me just to stay on Ron's good side, then you can forget about being friends. I'm not asking you to abandon Ron, just to treat us equally, like you did before."

"I'm not even sure I want to be Ron's friend at the moment," Hermione muttered grimly. "He's been a complete idiot these last few months. Some of the things he's accused you of doing have just been ridiculous. He had the nerve to suggest I'd lied about having a date for the Ball, as well. Just because he doesn't think of me as a girl he assumes every other boy does, too."

"Talking of dates; judging by the glares Krum is sending in this direction you'd better get back to him, Hermione," Ginny said. "I think he's starting to believe we've kidnapped you."

"Oh, right," Hermione said, slightly flustered. "Well, I'll see you both in a bit."

"Hey, Hermione," Harry called as she started to walk away. She turned to look at him. "Save me a dance, okay?"

Hermione broke into a happy smile and nodded, before she turned and made her way over where Viktor Krum was standing.

"So, have you forgiven her?" Ginny asked as she watched the girl return to her date.

"I'm not sure," Harry admitted. "I mean, I want to forgive her. I've come to rely on Hermione so much over the last few years I really don't want to think about not having her at my side. But things have changed. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but something is definitely different now."

"You have noticed that you aren't nearly so reliant on her anymore, haven't you?" Ginny pointed out. "How have your grades been doing since Hermione stopped helping you with your homework?"

"Err… okay, I guess. I mean, they did dip at the start, but I guess I have been putting in a bit more effort since then," he confessed. "Now I think about it, you've been a big help with that. You've really encouraged me to improve."

"Thank you," she replied quietly. In truth, she'd probably done a lot more than just provide encouragement, but she'd been quite subtle about it. As there was no way a third year should be able to help a fourth year with his homework, she had just offered 'suggestions' as to where he might find the answers to tricky questions, or 'found' text detailing just the information he needed to finish an essay. She'd also led by example; when Harry had caught sight of her well-presented and detailed work, he began to realise what sort of standards were required. The fact that she consistently obtained 'O's and 'E's for her homework triggered Harry's competitive streak and he soon started to receive similar grades.

"I guess it is time that I learnt to stand on my own two feet rather than just rely on Hermione," he agreed. "After all, it's me that has a psychopathic Dark Lord trying to kill him, not her."

Ginny looked sharply at Harry. The despair in his voice was clear. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard.

"Look, the champions must be just about to go in," she pointed out. "Let's just enjoy this evening and we'll talk about this tomorrow, okay?"

Harry smiled at her and allowed himself to be guided forward. The other champions were already lined up in preparation to make their entrance into the hall, so the pair of them took their place behind Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang. Ginny linked her arm with Harry's and smiled up at him.

"Remember, this is meant to be your thank you for me helping you," she whispered to him. "I'll be expecting you to show me a good time, so no sulking, okay?"

"I wasn't sulking," he protested.

"Good, then I can look forward to an evening full of dancing and fun with my attentive date, can I?" she asked pointedly.

"You can," he confirmed with a wry grin. "You're absolutely right. I did say tonight was supposed to be a thank you, so I promise: no sulking and as much dancing as you want."

"That's more like it," Ginny said approvingly.

"Champions, we are ready for you now," Professor McGonagall called out.

With her arm wrapped tightly around Harry's, Ginny made her way into the Great Hall, hoping he would be as good as his word.


	5. Chapter 5 – A Festive Interlude

**Chapter 5 – A Festive Interlude**

AN

Okay, before we go any further I just want to say something about the feedback I've been getting about my treatment of Neville. Firstly, I would point out that I did warn everyone in my Authors notes in Chapter 1 that there would be mild-Neville bashing, so I'm slightly miffed that anyone should complain about it.

The complaints have varied from 'Neville isn't like that!' and 'he would never say that about Luna' to my favourite 'bashing Neville is like kicking a puppy!' Snigger. Now, ignoring the fact that I work for a bank and puppy kicking was part of my initial training (see also kicking a blind man's walking stick away and stealing candy from a baby) I see things a bit differently.

Neville is nearly unique within HP canon in being the only character that is completely different at the start of the books to how they are at the end. While other characters do develop, no one changes nearly as much as Mr Longbottom. But remember, this was a gradual process. Apart from his attempt to stop the trio leaving the common room at the end of 'Philosophers Stone', he was generally a shy, dim-witted, awkward little fellow until he started to develop some backbone. This really didn't start until he joined Dumbledore's Army (and don't let the film version of GoF confuse you otherwise). At this point, Neville is a long way from the snake-killing, Voldemort defying hero of 'Deathly Hallows'.

Neville never seems to have any really close friends in the early books; he's always a bit of a hanger-on. Here, rather than make him step into the breach and become Harry's new bestest (male) friend as in so many 'Ron desert's Harry' fics, I've done it the other way round and made him Ron's new friend. This does have the unfortunately effect of letting him share in Ron's pratishness. Regarding Neville's 'loony Lovegood' comment, would like to quote my friend Sharon who pointed out he'd never told anyone about his parents and could easily mock others to 'cover' himself, like a closet homosexual making gay jokes. He, like so many teenage boys, doesn't want to seem different so he wouldn't want a 'different' date.

Anyway, enough about Mr Longbottom. I promise I won't be too nasty to him (I'm saving that for Ron). Huge thanks to Arnel for her wonderful beta work and for suggesting a few new sentences when my grip of English failed me. Again.

* * *

Before Ginny could make any further comments, the doors of the Great Hall swung open. The champions and their dates started to move forward and she had her first look at the decorations. The walls of the Hall had been covered in sparkling silver frost, and there were garlands of mistletoe and ivy everywhere. A gigantic Christmas tree dominated an entire corner of the room and was beautifully decorated.

They made their way across the Hall accompanied by the applause of everyone present. Ginny found herself blushing at all the attention and a quick glance revealed that Harry was looking extremely uncomfortable. It was a relief when they finally reached the large, rectangular table situated at the end of the Hall where the champions were to be seated.

As they approached the table, Ginny noticed her brother, Percy, standing at one end and immediately grabbed Harry's arm to drag him to the opposite end of the table… as far from Percy as she could get_._ Why he was there, she had no idea, but she had no desire to spend the evening listening to him prattle on. After selecting a suitably remote seat from her brother, Ginny was touched when Harry drew out the chair and held it for her. It seemed he was intent on being the perfect gentleman that night and she certainly didn't want to discourage him. Just so long as he reserved such behaviour for nights such as this.

Dinner proved a very pleasant affair, mainly because everyone on the main table largely left Harry and Ginny alone. The two of them were able to enjoy their candle lit dinner without much distraction. The food was delicious; sea bass for Ginny and for Harry, who was still under orders to pile on the calories, a juicy fillet steak. Dessert was a wonderful creation involving a lot of ice cream and strawberries which Ginny ate entirely too much of. By the time the meal was over she was looking forward to the dancing to work some of it off.

They watched with mounting trepidation, at least on Harry's part, as the band took to the stage and prepared their instruments. The tables had been moved back against the walls creating a large space in the middle of the Hall. The dance was about to begin.

As Harry led her onto the dance floor, Ginny could practically feel his nervousness. They found a space and turned to face one another. Harry slid his arm around her waist and they adopted the correct position whilst waiting for the music to start.

"I've forgotten everything you taught me!" Harry whispered in a panic.

Ginny only grinned at him. "Just relax and you'll be fine," she assured him.

The music started and they lurched into a formal waltz, Harry unfortunately starting slightly off the beat. Ginny desperately tried to stop herself giggling as she heard Harry counting out time under his breath. He was moving with all the grace and skill of a fallen tree.

"Hermione looks very nice tonight," Ginny said, deciding to try distracting him from watching his own feet.

"Yeah, she looks very good. I've never seen her looking like that, actually," Harry admitted, still looking downwards.

"Sorry you didn't ask her yourself?" she asked.

"No, why should I be?" Harry demanded, looking her in the eyes.

"She does look very pretty. I thought you might have been sorry about missing the chance to ask her to be your date," Ginny shrugged.

"Ginny, you're right: Hermione does look very pretty tonight. But she's not as pretty as you and I'm honoured that you agreed to accompany me to the ball," he replied primly.

"Good answer, Potter," Ginny giggled, before narrowing her eyes. "In fact, too good an answer! Harry, I know you, and I know full well that you haven't normally got a clue about how to act around a girl. You've been the perfect gentleman so far tonight; you've been coached, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I have," Harry admitted sheepishly. "After I invited you to the ball, I wrote to Sirius and asked for some ideas on how I should act. He actually sent me several pages of hints and tips."

"Well, his advice seems to have been pretty good to me," Ginny assured him, "and I'm touched that you went to so much effort to make sure I enjoyed myself. Between learning to dance and seeking tips on etiquette from your godfather, you've really gone to a lot of trouble."

"As I said, I wanted tonight to show my appreciation for all your help," he said with a shy smile. "I figured if I was acting like a moron or stomping on your toes it wouldn't really make for a good evening for you."

"Thank you, Harry. That was very thoughtful of you," she told him and enjoyed watching him blush. "And you know something else? Since you stopped staring at your feet your dancing has really improved."

"What?" Harry exclaimed, before realising that the pair of them were gracefully waltzing around the floor. He broke into a wide smile. "Wow, I never thought I could dance this well!"

"You just needed to relax, Harry," she told him. "I knew you could do it."

"Only because you're such a great teacher," he said happily, before he pulled her into a succession of spins which left her dizzy and giggling.

"Careful, Harry!" she laughed. "Don't get overconfident. I don't want to end up falling on my bum in front of everyone."

"Don't worry," Harry assured her, "I know what I'm doing. You taught me well, after all."

The music came to an abrupt end, catching them both off guard. They lurched to a stop and stood grinning at each other. As the next song began, other couples began to join the champions on the dance floor. Harry slipped his arm around Ginny's waist and they started dancing once again. Unlike the previous song, Harry led off confidently and he maintained eye contact with her throughout. Although the floor was now rather crowded, they still managed to dance without any mishaps or accidents.

As the night progressed, Ginny felt herself become almost giddy. Harry had continued to dance with her without the slightest protest or hint that he was becoming bored. Indeed, he actually looked like he was enjoying himself. They had occasionally chatted, but generally they were content to dance in silence. She soon lost all interest in what was going on around her and all she was aware of was the twinkling lights, the elegant music and Harry's smiling face.

"Are you ready to take a break?" Harry asked after the next song ended. "I'm getting really thirsty."

Ginny suddenly realised that they had danced solidly for over an hour and she was parched as well. "Me, too," she agreed. "Shall we go and get some punch?"

Harry nodded and led her by the hand from the dance floor. A massive punch bowl had been set up at the far end of the hall where the teachers table would normally be situated. As they approached, they spotted several familiar faces standing with drinks in their hands. Fred and George stood talking with their dates: Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet. Fred glanced around and, seeing them approach, broke into a wide grin.

"Well, if it isn't the belle of the ball herself, accompanied by her dashing companion. Thank you for gracing us insignificant peasants with your magnificent presence," he cried, bowing before them.

"Prat," Ginny growled.

"Leave them alone," Angelina scolded Fred, cuffing him lightly about the head before addressing Harry and Ginny. "You two looked wonderful out there. You were so graceful and stylish you showed up the other champions during that first dance."

"Really?" Harry said doubtfully. "I started really badly."

"Oh, only right at the start," Alicia said, joining in. "But once you got going you were great. Honestly, you were fantastic. I had no idea you could dance like that, Harry; you'll have to save me a dance for later."

"And me," Angelina agreed.

"Typical, I can't take you anywhere without other women throwing themselves at you," Ginny whispered teasingly in Harry's ear.

Harry just blushed and hurried over to the punch bowl. "I need a drink," he declared, before grabbing two glasses and filling them from the bowl. He handed one glass to Ginny, before taking a drink from his own.

"Quite pleasant, I suppose," George declared after taking a sip from his own glass, "but rather bland, wouldn't you say?"

"I would indeed, oh brother mine," Fred agreed. "This punch needs a little more kick to it."

"Then it was fortunate that we planned ahead, was it not?" George responded, before reaching into his robes and withdrawing a silver hipflask. Using his thumb, he flipped the flask open and poured a measure of the contents into his glass, before repeating the action with Fred's glass.

"What's that stuff?" Angelina demanded, before grabbing George's wrist and pulling his hand towards her. She carefully sniffed the open flask. "Firewhisky! Where did you get that from?"

"Never you mind," George told her. "The question is, my lady, do you want a little snifter?"

Angelina stared at him for a moment before she thrust her glass at him. With a laugh, George poured a measure of the Firewhisky into her punch.

"How about you, Alicia?" he asked.

"Why not?" the blond girl giggled before holding out her own glass to be topped up.

After George had refreshed Alicia's glass, he turned and looked speculatively at Harry. "How about you, oh Triwizard champion?" he asked, waving the flask at Harry temptingly.

For a second, Harry looked a little wild-eyed, before he too held out his glass. With a smirk, George poured some Firewhisky into Harry's glass, although not as much as he had with the others. With a determined look on her face, Ginny stuck her glass out as well.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Gin-Gin," George said doubtfully. "I mean, you're only thirteen. If Mum ever found out you'd been drinking, she'd skin us alive."

"Harry's only a year older than me," Ginny pointed out forcefully, "and Mum will never find out."

George still looked doubtful, but Fred came and slapped him on the shoulder.

"I know that expression on her face," he told his brother. "She won't give up until she gets her way. You might as well give in now."

With a resigned shrug, George reached out and poured a small amount of the golden liquid into Ginny's glass. It was an even less than he had given Harry, but Ginny decided not to push her luck. With a smug smile on her lips, she raised her glass and took a healthy swig from it.

"Sweet Merlin!" she exclaimed as the alcohol hit her. Her throat burned and her eyes watered. She could actually feel the fiery liquid burning inside her and she was convinced it was dissolving her stomach lining. Harry was in little better shape and appeared to be choking, as the other four looked on in amusement.

"What's the matter, youngsters?" Fred demanded. "Too much for you?"

Harry, who had managed to get himself back under control, glared at Fred. With a determined expression, he raised his glass again and this time drained the contents in one large gulp. Unfortunately, this set him off coughing again, but he managed to stop himself rather faster than before. Despite the fact his eyes were quite obviously watering, he had a look of triumph on his face.

Seeing the look of approval on her brothers' faces, Ginny realised she too needed to finish her drink to prove her worth. Wincing slightly, she followed Harry's example and downed her drink in one. She spluttered a little, but managed to force the liquid down her throat. She gasped for air, and for a second she imagined she had steam shooting out of her ears. The bitter taste in her mouth started to fade after a moment, and a warm glow enveloped her body.

"Bloody hell," Harry muttered. "Do people drink this for fun?"

"Oh, so you'll not be wanting anymore, then?" George asked in amusement.

"I didn't say that," Harry said quickly. "I'm just starting to get used to the taste."

"Me, too," Ginny added, wondering why her voice was suddenly so husky.

"Just take it steady, you two," Alicia advised, having just finished her own drink. She looked at the twins. "I do hope you brought more of that stuff than just that one little flask."

George reached into his robes and retrieved a further flask, while Fred produced a pair of flasks of his own.

"Woo-hoo!" Angelina exclaimed. "Party time!"

Despite her brothers' initial reluctance, Ginny managed to coerce several more Firewhisky laced drinks from them. She had just finished her third, when the band began an up-tempo number and she was suddenly filled with the overwhelming desire to dance again.

"Come on, you," she slurred at Harry, grabbing his arm. "You said I could dance as much as I wanted, and I want to dance, now!"

Harry, who had probably consumed slightly more Firewhisky than she had, grinned rather foolishly at her, and allowed himself to be dragged onto the dance floor. They began to dance rather exuberantly, causing several other couples to scamper rapidly out of their way. They danced to several more songs, fortunately in a slightly more sedate fashion, before Ginny felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Mind if I cut in?" asked Fred with a wide grin on his face.

Ginny looked at Harry who just nodded and stepped back a few steps. Ginny turned to her brother and held out her hand, when he suddenly darted past her and swept Harry into his arms. With a look of horror on his face, Harry suddenly found himself being pulled round the dance floor in a grotesque parody of a waltz by Fred Weasley.

It took a few seconds before Ginny's brain to catch up with what her eyes were seeing. She then burst out laughing at the sight of Harry dancing with her brother.

"Typical," moaned Angelina who had suddenly appeared at Ginny's side. "I say I want to have a dance with Harry and Fred just has to get in there first!"

"Looks like we've both been ditched," Ginny giggled. "How can we stand in the way of a beautiful couple like that?"

"True," Angelina agreed tragically. "Well, if the boys have deserted us, we'll just have to dance together."

"I'd be delighted," Ginny replied with a florid bow.

The two girls joined hands and began to gracefully twirl around the dance floor, as opposed to the manic jig that Fred and Harry seemed to be performing. Harry, perhaps influenced by the alcohol he had consumed, had given up trying to escape from Fred and had started trying to match the older boy's weird dance steps. Unfortunately, both boys seemed to be trying to lead with the result that they frequently got their legs tangled up, eventually crashing to the floor in a mass of tangled limbs. Angelina and Ginny took the opportunity to waltz around the fallen pair in an elegant manner, occasionally passing comment about the sort of riff-raff they had let into the ball. The music ended and the two girls curtsied to each other extravagantly. By now, Harry and Fred had managed to get to their feet and also curtsied to each other, much to the amusement of most of the other couples on the dance floor who had stopped to watch. When the audience broke into an enthusiastic round of applause, Fred took Harry's hand and they both curtsied to the crowd, before they both reclaimed their respective dance partners.

"That was hilarious," Ginny said as she pulled Harry into a hug.

"Huh, I'm not dancing with Fred again. He kept standing on my toes," he joked. "You're much better; I'll have to dance with you instead."

"Nice to know I'm good for something," she giggled as the music started again.

The rest of the evening was spent in a more sedate manner. Harry decided that he did owe Hermione a dance, so Ginny took a spin with Viktor Krum while he did. The stocky Bulgarian's eyes never strayed from his date as they danced, and the only conversation he made was to repeatedly quiz Ginny about Harry and Hermione's relationship. He seemed rather relieved to hear Ginny's assertion that they viewed each other as siblings. She also danced with Fred and George while Angelina and Alicia both claimed their promised turns on the dance floor with her date, but returned to Harry's arms in time for the final slow dance of the evening.

As they slowly shuffled around the dance floor, Ginny rested her head on Harry's shoulder while he in turn pressed his cheek against her hair. Their bodies were pressed together as they moved in perfect harmony. She closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the moment. The ball had been just about the best night of her life, and she really didn't want it to end.

Unfortunately, despite her best wishes the last song came to an end and the ball was over. They lingered to chat to several people before they slowly made their way out of the Great Hall. By this point Ginny was tired and a bit tipsy, and was leaning into Harry as they walked. He sniggered at her apparently sluggishness.

"What's the matter Weasley? Has it all been too much for you?" he joked.

"Nah, I can handle it better than you," she said, before playfully shoving him aside. She then sprinted forward before yelling over her shoulder, "bet I make it back to the common room before you, slowcoach!"

"Cheat!" Harry exclaimed before chasing after her.

Giggling, Ginny ran as fast as she could with Harry trailing after her. She lost ground as they raced up the stairs due to Harry's longer legs, and by the time they neared the common room, Harry was right on her heels. Just as she was about to turn a corner, Ginny felt an arm grab her around the waist and she found herself spun around. Before Harry had a chance to run off, Ginny grabbed him and they both ended up collapsing against a wall, laughing their heads off.

Suddenly, Ginny found the laughter dying in her throat. Somehow, Harry had managed to back her up against the wall and he had his arms wrapped around her. Their faces were only inches apart and she could feel his breath on her skin. Slowly, she leaned forward, their lips nearly touching…

With a gasp, Harry suddenly pulled away. Ginny blinked and looked at his panicky expression. With a sinking heart, she realised that she wasn't going to get the fairy tale ending to the night that she had hoped for. Indeed, the look on Harry's face suggested that she might have just ruined the whole evening.

"Um, Ginny, can we talk for a second?" Harry asked, his voice quiet and intense.

Tears began to form in Ginny's eyes. She had not just ruined the evening; she might well have wrecked her relationship with Harry. She'd pushed too hard and she could almost see him backpedalling from her. Not trusting herself to speak, she just nodded and let Harry drag her away to a quiet alcove nearby.

"I'm going to ask you a question, and I'd really like you to give me an honest answer, no matter how embarrassing it might be, okay?" he asked in a nervous voice.

She just nodded again, not able to meet his eyes.

"Ginny, do you want us to be more than just friends?" he asked. "Please tell me the truth."

For a second she was prepared to deny everything, but she made the mistake of looking up and found herself gazing into his brilliant emerald eyes. She knew there was absolutely no way she could ever lie to him when he held her in his gaze like that.

"Yes," she said simply.

"I thought so," Harry acknowledged. "I mean, I wasn't totally sure, but I thought that was what you wanted. Quite why a pretty girl like you is interested in a skinny git like me, I'll never understand."

Ginny opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off.

"Just let me get through this, Gin," he begged. "I've given this a lot of thought, especially ever since I realised what sort of person Cho Chang was. I was bloody drooling over her and if by some miracle I had actually managed to get her to go out with me, it would have been a disaster. That made me realised that I really know absolutely nothing about girls, or relationships, or anything really. Basically, I'm clueless."

"You did pretty bloody well tonight," Ginny protested. "I had a wonderful time."

"Yeah, but I had to ask Sirius for advice," Harry pointed out. "He sent me that huge letter giving all sorts of hints and tips. Things I should and shouldn't do during a date, how to act, what to say. Trust me, if I hadn't had that letter, Ginny, I would have been the worst date ever. I doubt I would have even thought to tell you how pretty you looked tonight if I hadn't been told."

Ginny stared at him in puzzlement. What was Harry trying to tell her?

"Look, Harry, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself," she began. "You're a teenage boy; you're meant to be clueless."

"I know you're trying to be kind, in a weird sort of way, but I really believe that I'm more clueless than most," Harry insisted. His expression became grim. "I grew up in an environment where I was despised. I was never shown an ounce of affection or warmth. The only role model for a relationship I had was my aunt and uncle, and that really wasn't what you would call healthy. I never once saw them hug or kiss, or heard them say 'I love you' to each other."

"That's horrible," Ginny told him sympathetically.

"Yeah, but it does kind of explain why I'm the way I am," he pointed out. "I have absolutely no idea how to show affection or anything. I still tense up if someone hugs me, for Merlin's sake."

"What are you saying, Harry?" Ginny demanded. "Are you going to go through life alone just because you had a crappy upbringing? You just have to learn to show affection."

"That's it exactly," he exclaimed. "I have to learn! I have to learn from scratch how I should act and feel around someone I care about. And that's going to take time and effort."

Ginny grabbed his hand. "Then I'll teach you! I'll show you what you need to know, Harry."

He smiled at her, but his eyes gave away his sadness. "That would be wonderful, Ginny, but I don't think it would work. At least, I don't think it would work at the moment. This bloody Tournament is taking up all my time and energy. You deserve a boyfriend who would be attentive and caring, and I don't think I could do that with everything going on at present."

Tears came to Ginny's eyes. It was typical of Harry to be more concerned about her feelings then his own, even if the stupid git was unintentionally hurting her by pushing her away.

"So what about when this Tournament is over, Harry? What about then?" she demanded.

"Well, I hardly dare to ask this, but would you be prepared to wait that long, Ginny? Can we put this whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing on hold until the end of term? Perhaps we can talk about it then and if we both feel the same, we can do something about it?" he asked hopefully. "Of course, if you don't want to wait that long then I understand…"

"Shut up, Harry" Ginny interrupted. "I've waited for you this long, so I'm sure I can wait a few more months. Besides, I think you're right. There's too much going on for you to be able to be distracted by us getting together right now. However, as soon as you're finished with the last task of this stupid bloody Tournament, you and me are sitting down and talking, got that, buster?"

"Yeah, definitely!" he agreed, looking relieved.

Ginny could only shake her head. It was clear that he had been scared she wouldn't be prepared to wait for him, but had been determined to put her happiness before his own. Noble git.

"I still want a good-night kiss," Ginny insisted, tapping her cheek.

Harry grinned and leaned in. She could feel the heat of his body next to her, before his soft, warm lips touched her skin for the first time. She just about managed to suppress the shiver that ran through her at his touch. It took more of her willpower, however, not to throw her arms around his neck and drag his lips to hers. Damn this stupid bloody Tournament!

"Thank you, Ginny," he said huskily. "I had a great time tonight."

"Me, too," she agreed. "We'd better get back before my brothers start organising a search party for us."

"Yeah, I already have Ron hating my guts; I don't need the twins after my blood as well," Harry said with a shudder.

"Don't worry, Mr Triwizard champion, I'll protect you," she told him, grinning.

Laughing, he linked arms with her and they made their way to the entrance to the common room. They had expected the room to be empty, with most people having gone to bed, so were surprised by sounds of people shouting as they passed through the portrait hole. As they entered the common room, they quickly identified the source of the shouting: Ron and Hermione.

The two of them were squared up in the centre of the room, screaming at each other. Ginny struggled to understand what the pair of them were saying. Ron was shaking with anger and was bellowing at the top of his lungs, while Hermione's voice was entering the range only dogs and Merpeople could understand.

"What's up with those two?" Ginny asked Lavender Brown, who stood to one side watching the spectacle with her date for the evening, Dean Thomas.

"I'm not totally sure," Lavender admitted. "I think your brother was waiting here for Hermione to come in. As soon as she arrived, he started laying into her. I get the impression he wasn't very happy Viktor Krum took her to the ball."

"I heard Ron yelling something about Krum being evil, and that Hermione was stupid to go near him," Dean added helpfully.

"Ron spent all summer raving about how wonderful Krum is," Harry objected. "He nearly wet himself with excitement the second Krum stepped off the Durmstrang boat!"

"I'd say he's changed his mind," Dean sniggered.

"Hmm, do you think it has anything to do with Krum dating Hermione?" Lavender teased. "Ron seems a bit upset about it, doesn't he?"

"Ron's a prat and I have no desire to see him making an even bigger fool of himself than usual," Ginny declared before turning and hugging Harry. "I had a wonderful time tonight, thank you. I'll see you in the morning, Harry. Good night."

"Night, Gin," Harry replied and watched her disappear up the staircase to the girls dormitories. Only when she was completely out of sight did he notice Dean and Lavender both grinning at him.

"What?" he protested.

"Nothing," Lavender said, her smile even wider.

"Good luck handling her brothers," Dean added.

"I don't need to handle her brothers," Harry said, starting to head towards the boys dormitories. "Ginny's quite capable of doing that for me."

Giving the still rowing Ron and Hermione a wide berth, he made his way upstairs. He pointedly ignored Neville who was sitting sulkily on his side of the room. Harry undressed and climbed between the crisp white sheets of his bed. He drifted off to sleep with a contented smile on his lips.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It was mid-morning before Ginny finally made it down to the common room. She'd slept late and when she did eventually awaken she'd been thoroughly interrogated by her room-mates about the events of the evening. When she'd confessed that she and Harry had talked about getting together after the Tournament finished, both girls had squealed and hugged her excitedly. She'd then sworn them to total secrecy about the matter.

When Ginny finally made it downstairs she found Harry and Hermione sitting on a sofa talking quietly. Hermione looked upset and her bloodshot eyes suggested she hadn't slept much the previous night. Ginny made her way over and sat down next to Harry.

"Morning, Gin," Harry said brightly. In contrast to Hermione he looked relaxed and happy.

"Morning, Harry," she replied, giving him a warm smile before turning her attention to the miserable looking girl perched at the end of the sofa. "You okay, Hermione?"

"Not really," Hermione snapped, before looking up contritely. "Sorry, Ginny. That was extremely rude of me. I'm just really tired."

"You certainly don't look too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," Ginny admitted. "What's wrong?"

"Can't you guess? Ron!" Hermione practically spat the boy's name. "I can't believe how horrible he was to me last night. I've stood by him all term while he's been an idiot and this is the thanks I get."

"What did the moron do now?" Ginny asked with a sinking feeling.

"He practically called me a whore because I went to the ball with Viktor!" Hermione said viciously. "He said I had a thing for famous wizards, and that because I couldn't have Harry I'd thrown myself at Viktor!"

Ginny gasped in horror while Harry just looked angry. "How badly did you hex him?" Ginny asked.

"I was so angry I couldn't hold my wand straight," Hermione replied in frustration. "But I tell you, if Professor McGonagall hadn't arrived and sent everyone to bed he wouldn't have got off so lightly."

"Hermione, you need to ignore Ron," Ginny said sympathetically. "I know you like him, but he really doesn't have two brain cells to rub together. He's just a jealous prat who wants respect without ever having done anything to deserve it. You're too smart and sensitive for the likes of him. He's my brother and I love him; but my advice to you is to forget about him. He'll just drag you down."

"I don't have so many friends that I can just discard them willy-nilly," Hermione objected. "Besides, Ron's normally a good friend; he just needs to learn to grow up a bit."

"And do you think he really ever will?" Ginny challenged. "And while he doesn't have a problem with Muggles, he's been brought up in a traditional pure-blood family and retains a lot of old-fashioned ideas and prejudices. Ron will always see you and me as 'just' girls who should find themselves good husbands and pump out babies. Mum's done a wonderful job of imprinting her world-view on him."

"But he can change, surely?" Hermione persisted. "After all, none of your brothers are really like that."

"Why do you think Bill, Charlie and even Percy left home as soon as they were able?" Ginny pointed out. "Mum basically forced them out of the house with her ultra-conservative views. Look at Bill: he's a clever bloke who, through hard work and natural talent, got himself a fantastic job. And every time Mum sees him, what does she say? 'Get your hair cut, Bill', 'take out that earring, Bill' or 'why don't you get a nice safe job, Bill?' If it's not that, she's nagging him to find a nice girl and settle down! Just because he's doing a job Mum doesn't approve of and his life-style is a bit unorthodox for her taste, she constantly nags him. She's just the same with poor Charlie!"

Both Hermione and Harry were looking at her with shocked expressions by this point, but Ginny ploughed on.

"I think the reason Mum was so upset Percy left was that he's the closest to matching her image of the perfect son. But even he couldn't stand her vision of how the world should be. He was attracted to Penny because she was bright and ambitious, not because she was a potential baby-making machine! And Merlin forbid anyone actually dares to question the word of the great Albus Dumbledore. If Mum gets her tongue any further up his arse she'll be able to clean out his ear-wax, too."

"Ginny!" exclaimed Hermione, shocked to the core.

"But it's all part of Mum's world view," Ginny insisted. "Respect your betters, and don't ever question them. Because of Dumbledore's standing and reputation in society she would always automatically accept anything he says without giving a moment's thought whether it's actually right or not. That's part of Mum's problem; she's more worried about what other people think than what's right."

Both of her friends were staring at her in disbelief now. Harry in particular was looking very uncomfortable.

"I know you don't want to think badly of my mother, Harry, but the truth is some of her ideas would have been out of date a hundred years ago. She's a kind and loving person, but she's very wrong about certain things," she explained gently.

"Your mum has always been great to me," he objected.

"She has when she's been permitted to," Ginny pointed out. "If it had been left to her, you would never have escaped the Dursleys the summer before your second term. Never once has she challenged Dumbledore regarding your treatment and I doubt she ever will."

For a second Harry looked like he wanted to argue but he seem to struggle to find something to say. Eventually, his shoulders sagged in defeat and a miserable expression crept onto his face.

"I'm not trying to make you sad," Ginny told him while sympathetically rubbing his arm. "My parents do care for you and I'm sure they'll try to treat you as well as they can. But one thing they will never do is defy Dumbledore."

"And Dumbledore will always insist that I go back to the Dursleys," Harry said despondently.

Hermione sat silently at the far end of the couch, but it was clear she was very unhappy with the whole conversation. Perhaps, Ginny mused, she'd planted some seeds of doubt in Hermione's mind for the girl not to immediately start defending Dumbledore. Or just maybe Hermione was starting to realise what a relationship with Ron would be like. Merlin knows, the few times Hermione had stayed at the Burrow, Molly had insisted she'd help in the 'womanly' tasks such as cooking and cleaning. For a smart girl like Granger, being trapped as a housewife and mother would be like being sent to hell.

"I'm going to visit the library," Hermione declared after a few moments. "I have a few things to think about and that's where I do my best thinking."

"What about breakfast?" Harry asked.

"I'm not really hungry," Hermione replied. "I'll see you two later."

"Well, I'm starving," Ginny declared as they watched the bushy-haired girl disappear.

"Yeah, me too," Harry agreed, sounding a little sad for his friend. "What do you want to do afterwards?"

"We still have to work out what we're going to do about the second task," Ginny reminded him.

"Oh, yeah. What a fun way to spend Boxing Day," he grumbled.

"Quit moaning," Ginny said, slapping him on the arm playfully. "You had yesterday off; what more do you want? But as you've been such a good boy, I'll let you get away with doing only fifty sit-ups today."

Harry stared at her in an unfriendly manner. "You can go off people, you know," he said flatly.

"I'm sure you can," she said, taking his arm and leading him towards the portrait hole. "But you know, I'm far too cute for you to be mad at me for very long."

"Damn, I hate it when you're right," he moaned, as they headed downstairs for breakfast.


	6. Chapter 6 – Cold Lake

**Chapter 6 – Cold Lake**

AN

Half way through! This story is only ten chapters long as I intend to only cover this school year, but I do intend to write a sequel (or two).

Hopefully all the stuff about Human to Animal Transfiguration is self-explanatory. I always assumed that Viktor Krum only partially transfigured himself into a shark on purpose (not on porpoise, boom-boom) and this chapter includes my reasoning for that. I never really like coming up with non-canon spells but the circumstances really demanded it. It did actually start me thinking about Tom Riddle's time at Hogwarts; was Dumbledore not skilled at Legilimency at that point or did he refrain from using on schoolchildren? Tom was obviously up to no good by his senior years, so why was Dumbledore seemingly unaware of the extent of it? Did he feel that as he was only part of the teaching staff (he didn't become Headmaster until c1955) that is wasn't his place to interfere? Any way you look at it, Dumbledore took his eye off the ball on that one.

Huge squidgy thanks to Arnel for her beta work.

* * *

"Forty-six, forty-seven… come on, Harry! Just three more. Forty-eight… that one didn't count, you didn't bend properly… forty-nine…come on…. Fifty! Well done!"

Ginny released Harry's feet and stood up. She'd been helping him complete his daily exercises and he'd just completed the fifty sit-ups she's assigned him. He looked red-faced and sweaty, and was clutching his midriff in obvious pain. He glared at her.

"Why don't you do any of this stuff?" he demanded.

"Because I'm not the one entered into the Triwizard Tournament and I don't have an evil Dark Lord attacking me all the time," she responded, managing to keep most of the smugness out of her voice.

"Yeah, but you're still in danger," he objected. "You're always saying that your family are well-known blood traitors, and that makes you all targets. And what happens next year if we do decide to get together? You might as well have a bulls-eye painted on your back!"

Ginny had a moment of panic. Harry was quite capable of deciding they shouldn't be together if he thought it would be the safest thing for her. Besides, he did have a point. She'd told him repeatedly that she would stand by his side, which would probably mean she would end up fighting Voldemort's supporters. She needed to be as fit and ready as Harry.

"I suppose you're right," she huffed. "I need to be as combat-ready as you are, I guess. I'll start exercising with you tomorrow and I'll also start getting a bit more involved in the training, as well. But let me tell you something here and now. When we sit down and talk about 'us' at the end of term, if I even think you're trying to push me away in order to protect me, I'll do something so hideous to you that you'll be no use to any girl ever again. Got it?"

For a second Harry looked like he was going to argue but the expression on Ginny's face made him think twice. Instead, he just meekly nodded before struggling to his feet and grabbing a nearby towel.

"Right, I'm glad we go that sorted," Ginny she said decisively. "For the rest of the morning I think we should concentrate on the second task. Any ideas?"

"Hermione mentioned the Bubble-Head Charm," Harry said cautiously. "The only problem with that is it just helps me breathe, nothing else. I'm not really the strongest swimmer in the world and if I have to swim to the bottom of the lake I think it'll take me all day."

"That's a good point," she acknowledged. "I think I've got something that would address both problems, but I warn you now; it's a bloody hard spell to do."

She went to the pile of reference books they had accumulated and hunted through them until she found the copy of 'Advanced Transfigurations' they had bought in Hogsmeade. She flicked through the pages until she found what she was after and then handed the open book to Harry.

"Human to Animal Transfiguration?" he gasped. "But that's really advanced stuff, Gin. I'm not sure I could pull it off."

"Of course you could, Harry," she assured him. "If you can cast a Patronus then you can cast this spell."

"I suppose I… wait, it says here that when a human Transfigures himself into an animal he becomes that animal entirely; he'd have no memory of ever being a wizard or of being able to use magic. If I did this, I wouldn't remember anything about the task. Plus, I wouldn't be able to change myself back, either."

"The changing back part is no problem; if we assume it's me who will be your hostage then we'll just have Hermione or Luna waiting by the shoreline to change you back to a human. As for retaining your own identity when Transfigured; I have an idea for that, too," she informed him.

For the last few weeks she had been scouring Tom's memories for something that would help. Tom had mastered the Animal Transfiguration in his fifth year, but had only generally used it on other people. He had, however, developed another spell that Ginny thought would help in this circumstance.

Riddle had been paranoid about Dumbledore finding out about all his nefarious activities within the school, and strongly suspected the old man was a Legilimens. Tom had desperately tried to learn Occlumency, but he was slow to perfect it without help. Instead, he'd developed a stop-gap method of protecting his mind. The spell, which he'd dubbed the 'Fortress-Mind Charm' had some significant disadvantages, not least was the effects were strictly temporary. A skilled Legilimens would also instantly be able to detect the spell had been cast, which limited its usefulness. However, in these circumstances, Ginny felt sure that the spell could be used to protect Harry's mind while his body was Transfigured.

"Take a seat, Harry. You're about to learn a new spell," she informed him with a grin.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

As Ginny sat in the common room, she couldn't help but feel amazement how fast the previous two months had passed. The time had vanished in a whirlwind of training, planning and studying.

Harry, who sat beside her on a couch, had worked tirelessly throughout that time, desperately attempting to master the spells he would need during the second task. It had not been easy.

Although he had managed to master the 'Fortress-Mind' spell relatively easily, the Human to Animal Transfiguration had proved to be a completely different matter. Bearing in mind it was advanced NEWT level magic, that was unsurprising. Ginny had been forced to watch Harry's mounting panic as he failed to perform the spell time and time again. As they had no workable back-up plan, they both knew that it was imperative that he get it right. Then, just when it looked like Harry would never be able to Transfigure himself, he successfully cast the spell with just days to spare.

Interestingly, it was Luna that helped Harry achieve his breakthrough. They had decided just after Christmas to obtain the blond Ravenclaw's help with the task rather than ask Hermione. Both Harry and Ginny suspected that their Housemate would not approve of them trying to perform the potentially dangerous spell, and besides, Ginny didn't want to have to explain to the clever girl where she had learnt the Mind Fortress spell, anyway. Luna, on the other hand, had been delighted to be asked to help and it was agreed that during the task she would position herself by the shoreline ready to change Harry back to his human form at the end.

In addition, Luna had provided more practical support. For Harry to practice the Transfiguration they had required him to be in a sizable area of water, but none of them fancied the idea of having to spend hours out by the lake in the middle of winter. Somehow, Luna had known the location of the Prefect's bathroom and the password to enter it, although she had proved to be rather elusive in explaining how she knew these things.

She'd also proved to be an expert in calming Harry down when his frustrations at his failure to cast the spell had threatened to overwhelm him. Luna knew a number of meditation and breathing exercises which she insisted Harry perform before he attempted the Transfiguration. Amazingly, these actually seemed to work, and once Harry was calm and focused he managed to achieve his goal. Ginny made a mental note to include her friend in more of Harry's training after that.

But future training plans would have wait for the moment. Tomorrow, the second task would take place and a pensive mood had consumed Harry's small group of friends. Just across from Ginny, Hermione sat in a high backed chair with a worried expression on her face. They had finally buckled into her relentless pressure the day before and explained what they had planned. To say she'd been slightly upset would be something of an understatement and it had taken all their powers of persuasion to convince her that it was unnecessary for them to immediately troop down to the lake to practice.

The twins were also present and they looked equally unhappy. Ginny had decided it would be unwise not to inform them beforehand that she might well end up at the bottom of the lake as a hostage, and they had reacted with uncharacteristic seriousness. At their urging, Ginny had written to their mother to inform her of events. The reply, which stated that Molly had been told all about it by the Headmaster and that she hoped Ginny would have fun, suggested that Dumbledore had perhaps not fully explained to the Weasley matriarch what the task entailed. Still, it was too late to do anything further about that now.

It was with a certain sense of inevitability when at ten to nine the portrait door swung open and Professor McGonagall entered. Her eyes briefly scanned the common room until she spotted Harry and his friends gathered by the fireplace. She swiftly made her way over to them.

"Ah, Miss Weasley and Miss Granger, I'm glad I caught you together," the Professor said approvingly. "I require both of you to accompany me to the Headmaster's office immediately."

"Wait, why do you need both Ginny and Hermione?" Harry demanded.

"I hardly see what business that is of yours, Mr Potter, and I would thank you to mind your tone," McGonagall replied reproachfully.

"Considering I'm likely to have to rescue at least one of them from the bottom of the lake tomorrow, I think it is my business," Harry snapped back.

McGonagall glared at him. "While I'm glad to learn that you have figured out what your task is to be tomorrow, that does not mean that you have the right to disrespect your elders. You will be informed why both young ladies are required at the appropriate time."

Harry scowled at his teacher and looked like he had more to say on the subject, but he was interrupted by Hermione.

"We'll accompany you, Professor," she said, rising from her chair. "Come on, Ginny."

With a resigned sigh, Ginny also stood and glanced over at Harry. He returned her look with a worried expression on his face.

"Don't worry, Harry. I'm sure you'll have me out of the lake before I even know it," she said with a confidence she didn't feel. She trusted him to rescue her or die trying. It was the last bit that got her worried.

"I will, I promise," he said, before surprising her by stepping forward and pulling her into a quick hug. He released her before turning to Hermione with a slight grin on his face.

"So, Hermione, do you think that you're what Viktor Krum will miss the most? Is there anything you want to tell us about your relationship with Viktor?" he teased.

With Harry's words, the realization that she was indeed likely to be Krum's hostage hit Hermione. She blushed to her roots and lowered her gaze in embarrassment.

"Yes, well, I think we'd better move along," she muttered before moving to stand alongside her Head of House.

With butterflies in her stomach, Ginny moved to accompany her. The three witches turned and started to head out the door before a voice halted them.

"Professor? Can you give the Headmaster a message for me?" Harry called.

"What would that be, Mr Potter?" McGonagall demanded, clearly annoyed at being delayed again.

"Tell him that I hold him personally responsible for Ginny and Hermione's safety. Tell him if anything happens to either of them, him and me are finished," he said in a cold voice.

"Mr Potter!" McGonagall thundered. "How dare you be so disrespectful? I don't know what foolish ideas are going through your head, but I can assure you that both Miss Weasley and Miss Granger will be perfectly safe."

"Really?" Harry said his voice heavy with sarcasm. "Just like Hermione was back in her first year when that troll got into the castle? Or when she got attacked by a basilisk? Or the Dementors? Or when Ginny nearly lost her life in the Chamber of Secrets? Or when I had to face Voldemort when he was sticking out of the back of Quirrell's head? Will they be safe like that, Professor?"

"All those incidents were of course most regrettable," McGonagall splutter, as rattled as any of them had ever seen. "But this is just a friendly competition and the Headmaster has assured me he has taken steps to ensure there is no danger to anyone."

"No danger to anyone?" Harry repeated in disbelief. "I've already nearly been ripped to pieces by a dragon! And can I remind you that I'm not even meant to be in this bloody competition in the first place? If the Headmaster can't even explain how I came to be entered, how can he guarantee everyone's safety with such certainty, huh?"

McGonagall gave Harry a look that would have had most people running to the hills, but to his credit Harry didn't flinch. Ginny looked at him in amazement and not a little pride that he would stand up to McGonagall in such a manner. Her heart warmed as Fred and George rose and stood either side of Harry offering their silent support. An ominous quiet fell over the common room.

"I will pass on your words to the Headmaster," McGonagall said eventually, her voice brimming with anger. "Come along, girls."

Ginny found herself nearly running to keep up with the tall witch as she strode forcefully out of the common room. Hermione was little better off, and the two girls struggled to keep pace with their Head of House. After a surprisingly short time, the three witches arrived outside the entrance to the Headmaster's office. Professor McGonagall turned and addressed the two slightly winded girls.

"Before we enter, I want to assure both of you that I will personally do my utmost to ensure safety," she told them primly.

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione replied before continuing in a beseeching tone. "Please don't be too hard on Harry for the way he acted. He's just worried about us, and probably a bit scared himself, as well."

McGonagall's expression mellowed a fraction. "While I do not condone Mr Potter's rudeness, I do understand his reasoning and I am even in agreement with him to some extent. There's no way children of your age should be mixed up in any of this."

"Age doesn't seem to mean a lot round here," Ginny said stiffly. "No matter how old you are danger seems to find you."

"Yes, sadly that's something I can't refute," McGonagall replied, suddenly looking her age. "I promise that I will be nearby tomorrow should anything go wrong, not that I believe it will, of course. Besides, Mr Potter seems to have developed quite a talent for rescuing people; I'm sure he's worked out a plan."

"He has," Ginny assured the professor.

"I hope Viktor has," Hermione muttered under her breath.

With a faint smile of sympathy, McGonagall then led the two young witches up the moving spiral stairs and into the Headmaster's office. Ginny was unsurprised to find two other girls already there: Cho Chang, who would undoubtedly be Cedric's hostage, and a small blond girl who she assumed must be a relative of Fleur's. The young girl looked extremely nervous and stared at them with wild, frightened eyes. Also present in the room was Ludo Bagman and Ginny's brother Percy, whom she assumed was still filling in for the sickly Barty Crouch.

"Ah, Miss Weasley and Miss Granger," the Headmaster addressed them with a warm smile. "How kind of you to join us. I rather suspect you already know why you are here."

"Yes, we're to be hostages whether we want to or not," Ginny said coldly.

"Ginevra!" Percy shouted in outrage. "This is a prestigious event that the Ministry has spent a lot of time and effort organising. You should be grateful to be involved in such a historic competition."

"You're welcome to take my place at the bottom of the lake, if you want," Ginny told her brother. "Mind you, Harry would probably be tempted to just leave you down there."

"Now, Miss Weasley, there is no need to be concerned," Dumbledore stated, interceding between the warring siblings. "I assure you that you'll be perfectly safe. In fact, you should consider the event as an exciting adventure."

Ginny rolled her eyes at the Headmaster's condescending attitude, before she looked pointedly at Professor McGonagall. The professor held her gaze for a second before nodding sternly; silently inferring that she would convey Harry's threat to the Headmaster later. While that was a conversation Ginny would have loved to be party to, she wasn't going to push the issue.

"Let me explain what will happen now," Dumbledore continued in a grandfatherly tone. "I will shortly be casting a very special Sleeping Charm on you four young ladies. This spell will not only lay you in the comforting arms of Morpheus, but will allow you breathe underwater without the slightest difficulties. The charm is designed to break the second your respective champion lifts you to the surface of the lake and into the fresh air. It will be part of the champions' task to then transport you to the shore, but rest assured, help will be available if anyone is struggling."

"What happens if the champion doesn't manage to retrieve us within the time limit?" Hermione asked.

"Then, quite simply, the Merpeople, who inhabit the lake, will bring you to the surface themselves. They will also be watching over you the entire time you are submerged to ensure that you come to no harm," Dumbledore explained.

"And who will be watching the Merpeople?" Cho demanded.

"Miss Chang, the Merpeople are perfectly friendly. There really is no need for all this concern," the Headmaster said with a slight frown on his face.

"Maybe we would be less concerned if it had been discovered how Harry's name got into the Goblet," Ginny pointed out. "The fact that someone has already tampered with the Tournament right under the noses of the organisers and remains at large is something to be a little concerned about, don't you think, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore stared at Ginny frostily, but chose to ignore her question. "I rather think we should press on. All this unnecessary hostility is upsetting the young Miss Delacour," he said in an even voice.

Ginny glanced over at the small girl who was glancing around wide-eyed and looked like she was on the verge of bursting into tears. It was doubtful that the young witch had understood a word that anyone was saying, but she had clearly picked up on the tension in the air.

Knowing that any further argument would be pointless, Ginny held her tongue. Beside her, she heard Hermione huff slightly, clearly upset that that Ginny's comment had been brushed aside. Cho also looked rather upset, but that was a fairly common reaction for the highly-strung beauty.

At Dumbledore's request, the four hostages seated themselves on the high-backed chairs provided, and were told to relax. That was something Ginny struggled to comply with and she felt a cold fear grip her. She watched as the Headmaster stood and withdrew his wand.

Blackness claimed her.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"Aaaaggh!" Ginny shrieked as a something freezing cold and wet hit her hard in the face.

She instantly became aware of several sensations simultaneously. First, and most immediate, was that she was choking. She had water in her nose and mouth, and for a second she began to panic. Gasping and spluttering, she managed clear her airway, and breathed in a lungful of cold air gratefully.

Once Ginny's immediate fear of asphyxiation had passed, she began to realise that she was being dragged through freezing cold water at high speed. The frigid air numbed her face and hands as she blinked into the bright light, desperately trying to figure out what was happening.

Then understanding came to her, and she realised where she was. Groping blindly, her hands encountered smooth, slightly oily skin and she heard an excited chittering sound. As her vision cleared, she saw she was sitting astride the shiny, grey back of an animal that was cutting through the dark waves at an amazing speed. The creature had a rope gripped in its mouth, which in turn was in turn wrapped round her waist and she speculated that this had been used to secure her at the bottom of the lake.

Her earlier anxiety was replaced by a surge of joy as she realised that Harry had not only cast a faultless Human to Animal Transfiguration Spell, but that he had successfully rescued her from the bottom of the lake. Reaching forward, she managed to get a firm grip on Harry's dorsal fin and she couldn't stop herself from crying out in joy.

"OH, YES!" she screamed. "Go, Harry, Go!"

Harry's dolphin form was slicing through the water at an incredible speed and the shoreline was rapidly approaching. For a split second, Ginny felt disappointed that her amazing ride through the waves would be ending so soon. However, her shivering body convinced her that a set of dry clothes and a Warming Charm were a higher priority. Besides, she could always convince Harry to Transfigure himself again once the weather was warmer.

Scanning the shoreline, Ginny saw a small figure with blond hair waving her arms frantically. "Luna's over to the right, Harry," she called out.

Harry again made a throaty chittering noise, and began to tack to his right. It took only a minute or so before they reached the shore and Harry deliberately beached himself on the shallow, rocky ground. With her hands and feet numb from the cold, Ginny reluctantly slid from his back and was helped to dry ground by an enthusiastic Luna.

"That was wonderful!" the blond girl exclaimed. "You're back before any of the other champions."

"Riding on Harry's back was fantastic," Ginny confirmed. "Although next time I'm going to wait until the water's warmer."

"Oh, yes. I want to ride on Harry, too!" Luna giggled before she approached the beached dolphin with her wand drawn. "You're so beautiful in this form; it's almost a shame to change you back. _Finite Incantatem!_"

Harry instantly morphed from his dolphin form back into his normal appearance. As soon as he had completely changed back into a human, he let out a startled yelp and leapt out of the water.

"Sweet Merlin, that water's cold!" he exclaimed through chattering teeth. "Have you got my robes around here, Luna?"

Luna merely smiled at Harry, who was clad in only a pair of swimming trunks, before she turned her head slightly to address Ginny. "Actually, as nice as his dolphin form was, I rather like this one, as well," Luna said dreamily.

"Yeah, it's not bad, is it?" Ginny agreed cheekily, despite the fact she was shivering with the cold. "All that exercise is doing you good, Harry."

"Can you please give me my clothes," Harry begged. "I'm freezing my bits off, here!"

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" Luna laughed, before retrieving Harry's robes from a nearby bag and handing them to him. He pulled them on gratefully and stood shivering.

By now, the first of the spectators had started to reach them. Very soon, the three of them were surrounded by a small crowd, all intent on congratulating Harry. Ginny couldn't help but be amused by the number of young girls all trying to get him to agree to take them for a ride in his dolphin form.

"Make way! Make way!" cried a loud and intimidating voice. The crowd parted to allow an irritated Madam Pomfrey through.

"You were supposed to return over by the jetty so I could examine you, Mr Potter," the Mediwitch scolded him. "I don't appreciate having to traipse halfway round the lake to find you."

"Sorry, Madam Pomfrey," Harry apologised. "I needed a place I could safely beach myself. We were just about to come and find you."

"Yes, well, I'm glad to see neither you nor Miss Weasley appear to have been harmed. Drink these, however," she ordered before thrusting small bottles into both Harry and Ginny's hands.

Ginny gratefully drank the Pepper-Up Potion and felt the warmth spread through her body. Steam shot from Harry's ears and he looked equally relived.

"Right, back to the medical tent with the both of you," Promfrey ordered. "I want to examine you properly, and you both need to get into dry clothes."

With their group of onlookers trailing behind them, the three of them accompanied the Mediwitch back to the main spectators' area. As they approached, Ginny could see most of the judges applauding them from their stand, although Karkaroff notably remained seated with a scowl on his face.

Madam Pomfrey herded Harry and Ginny into the medical tent, while Luna remained outside. She then set about casting various spells on them, which, mercifully, included both Warming and Drying Charms. Both of them changed into fresh clothes that they had previously stored in Luna's bag, and they smiled at each other in relief.

They had just finished changing when a soaking wet Hermione, followed closely by a scowling Viktor Krum, entered the tent. Hermione's lips had a blue tinge to them and she was visibly shivering.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" Harry called over to her as Madam Pomfrey began her examination.

"I've never been so cold in my life!" Hermione complained. "Really, who thought that it would be a good idea for this task to be undertaken in the middle of a Scottish winter?"

"Dis is not so cold," Krum grunted. "At Durmstrang, ve cut holes in ice and bath in vater. Dis is varm to me."

"Well, it isn't to me!" Hermione snapped, just before Madam Pomfrey's Warming Charm hit her. She sighed in relief. "Oh, that feels wonderful!"

"I am not understanding," Krum addressed Harry gruffly. "I am not Transfiguring into shark fully so animal does not take over. You Transfigure into animal completely, but are still Potter in your mind. How are you doing this?"

"Sorry, Viktor," Harry said with a grin. "That's classified information. But I promise that I'll explain everything after the Tournament is over."

Krum just grunted, but was interrupted by the arrival of Cedric and Cho into the tent. Ginny couldn't help thinking that Cho looked like a drowned rat, and she began to wonder how much of the girl's appearance was purely cosmetic. Harry, bless him, seemed more interested in what Cedric had to say than ogling the Asian girl, despite her clinging, wet clothes.

"Delacour's going mental out there," the strapping Hufflepuff told the assembled group. "She got attacked by Grindylows and never completed her task. The poor girl's terrified what will happen to her little sister."

"She'll be alright," Hermione announced. "Professor Dumbledore assured us that at the end of the task any hostages that had not been rescued would be brought to the surface by the Merpeople. Delacour's sister is in no danger."

Hermione was proved right when around fifteen minutes later the sobbing child was brought into the tent with her sister hovering over her in obvious distress. Fleur was ranting loudly in French and appeared on the verge of a complete breakdown. Not wanting to have to watch the sisters' distress, Ginny tugged on Harry's sleeve and looked meaningfully at the door.

Harry nodded and the two of them slipped out. Harry had just turned to say something to Ginny when a blur appeared out of nowhere and lashed out at Harry. The blow glanced against the side of his face and sent him staggering. Ginny looked around in alarm and was horrified to see Ron standing there with his fists clenched.

"You bloody bastard, Potter!" Ron raged. "You nearly got my sister killed!"

Ron had started to advance on the still shaken Harry when he was brought up short by a wand being pointed straight at his face. Ginny was amazed to see Luna standing in front of Ron with a cool expression on her face.

"It's rather cowardly to attack someone when they're not looking, Ronald," Luna said in a quiet, intense voice.

Just for a second, it looked like Ron would actually attack the small Ravenclaw. Ginny managed to shake her initial shock and drew her own wand. She hurried forward until she was shoulder to shoulder with Luna, and aimed her wand at her brother.

"What the hell are you doing, you idiot!" Ginny yelled.

Ron glared at her with barely suppressed fury. "Stay out of this, Ginny!" he raged. "This is between me and Potter!"

"What the bloody hell did I do to you?" Harry demanded from behind Ginny.

"What did you do?" Ron repeated in disbelief. "You nearly got my sister killed, you stuck-up wanker!"

"I nearly got her killed?" Harry repeated. "I saved her from the lake! Weren't you watching?"

"She wouldn't have been in the lake in the first place if it wasn't for you!" Ron bellowed, and began to advance again.

"You bloody moron!" Ginny raged. "It wasn't Harry's fault I was used in this task. He tried to prevent it, for your information. If you want to blame anyone, blame Dumbledore!"

"Ron, what are you doing?" Hermione's distressed cry came from nearby. Ginny didn't take her eyes off her angry brother and her wand didn't waiver.

"Hiding behind a bunch of girls?" Ron sneered at Harry. "Why don't you fight me like a man?"

"Stop it, now!" Ginny shouted at Ron. "If I didn't object to being used in the task, what right have you?"

"I'm your brother; it's my job to protect you!" Ron yelled at her.

"No, it's bloody not!" she yelled back. "You didn't even bother to ask me what I thought; you were just looking for an excuse to attack Harry! I'm quite capable of looking after myself; a hell of a lot better than you could, anyway!"

Ron face was bright red by this point.

"And if I wanted protection, I would have asked Fred and George, not you! And they've known I was going to take part in the task for weeks," Ginny continued.

"They knew?" Ron exclaimed indignantly.

"Yes, and so did Mum!" she nearly screamed.

"Mum knew?" Ron repeated, suddenly looking unsure of himself. "Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Because, little Ronikins, we knew you'd behave in exactly this manner," said Fred, who had appeared out of nowhere and was now standing directly behind Ron.

"But this is stupid!" Ron protested. "Ginny wouldn't have been in danger if she didn't hang around with Potter. He's bad news."

"Ginny would be dead if it wasn't for Harry," said George who had appeared next to his twin. "Remember her first year here at Hogwarts?"

Ron remained silent, but still looked angry. George shook his head sadly.

"Come on, little brother. We're going to have a bit of a talk," he said.

"That is, we're going to talk and you're going to listen," added Fred, gripping Ron by the shoulder and starting to lead him away.

They had gone a few steps when Ron spun round and yelled at Harry, "This isn't over, Potter!"

"Yes, it is," Ginny ground out. "Unless you want to make me your enemy, Ron. And remember; I'm smarter and more powerful than you. Do you really want to go up against me?"

Ron grunted and allowed himself to be pulled away. They had gone a few steps when Harry's voice rang out.

"I'll give you that punch you landed on me free, Ron," he called. "Next time I'll fight back."

Ginny was disgusted to see a sneer appear on Ron's face that would be worthy of Draco Malfoy himself. She kept her wand trained on him until he was well clear. Hermione hurried after the group, with Viktor Krum following with a face like thunder.

"I can't believe he did that," Harry said sadly. "Thanks for stepping in there, Luna, and you to, Ginny. I'm sorry for causing trouble for your family."

"Don't be daft, Harry," Ginny chided him. "It's not your fault Ron's being a jealous idiot."

"There's definitely something wrong with that boy," Luna agreed. "I think he's contracted 'Morons Malady'. I understand that's a common complaint amongst boys who eat with their mouth's open."

Both Harry and Ginny burst out laughing at Luna's prognosis of Ron's problems. Harry gave the blond girl's shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

"Promise me, Luna; don't ever change," he said with a wide smile.

"Oh, I can't promise you that, Harry," Luna replied in all seriousness. "I mean, as I get older I'm bound to get taller and I expect I'll fill out a bit. I would hate to think my boobs will remain this size for the rest of my life."

Harry turned bright red. "Umm, okay, Luna," he stammered. "I guess it's okay for some bits of you to change."

Ginny nearly fell over laughing.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Harry and Ginny made their way to the Gryffindor common room. They had waited by the lake until the judges had delivered their scores, and had been delighted at the near perfect marks Harry had received across the board. With depressing predictability, Karkaroff was the only judge to mark Harry down and had been booed so aggressively by the crowd that he'd been forced to revise his mark upwards. His eventual mark of seven out of ten was still the lowest of any of the judges, but didn't prevent Harry from securing a substantial lead over his fellow champions.

Rather than deal with the hoo-hah after the judging, Harry, Ginny and Luna and snuck away and decided to visit the school kitchens for a celebration meal. Due to their intense training schedule, Harry and Ginny were frequent visitors to the kitchens as it was not always convenient to eat at traditional meal times. It was Luna's first visit there, however, and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience. In particular, she'd been delighted by the presence of so many house-elves and had managed to befriend half of them within five minutes of her arrival. Dobby, of course, had been delighted by their visit and had whipped up a virtual feast for the three of them. For once, Ginny couldn't complain at Harry for not eating enough as they attempted to work their way through the mountain of goodies the little elf had provided.

After seeing Luna part of the way to the Ravenclaw common room, Harry and Ginny had made their way to their own accommodation. As they approached the Gryffindor common room, Ginny couldn't help but notice that Harry's previous good mood appeared to be slipping.

"You feeling okay, Harry?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's just that run-in I had with Ron earlier," Harry explained. "It made me realise that my friendship with him is really over."

"As much as I hate to badmouth one of my own family, I don't think he's any great loss," Ginny assured him.

"I guess not. Certainly, judging by his actions today, I'm better off without him," he acknowledged. "But it still hurts. Ron was the first real friend I ever had, and I still don't know what I did for him to turn his back on me."

"It's his problem, not yours," Ginny insisted.

"Yeah, but I'm the one who has to suffer for it," he moaned. "The only thing that gets me through the holidays is the thought that I might get to go to the Burrow. With me falling out with Ron, it looks like I'll be stuck with the Dursleys all summer."

"But you're almost part of the family," she objected. "Ron might not want you to visit the Burrow anymore, but the rest of us do."

"I think the important word there is 'almost', I'm afraid," he pointed out. "Answer me truthfully, Gin. If Ron goes to your mum and flatly states he doesn't want me to visit, do you really think she'll invite me?"

"Ron might say he doesn't want you there, but I'll say that I do! I know my mum looks forward to your visits, and the twins will be on your side, too. Ron will simply be outvoted," she said smugly.

"And if we do start dating at the end of term?" Harry pressed. "Do you think your mum will be so keen on having your boyfriend staying under the same roof as you?"

That stopped Ginny short. She would have liked to deny it, but the truth was that her mum would definitely not approve of any boy she was in a relationship with staying overnight at the Burrow, even if it was Harry. In her letters home, she'd hinted that she and Harry were becoming close and Molly had seemed very happy with the idea. However, no matter how fond her mother was of Harry, it was unlikely she would allow him to be anywhere near where Ginny slept if there was the slightest chance of 'inappropriate' behaviour. Why did it seem that everything was conspiring against her and Harry getting together?

"Harry, I…" she began, but struggled to find the right words. Could she really sabotage Harry's chance of escaping from his hated relatives during the summer?

"Don't worry about it now, Gin," Harry told her, although he seemed rather down about the whole thing. "We'll talk about all this at the end of term, as we agreed."

"Okay," she agreed, but was worried. The reasons for them not getting together seemed to be mounting.

With dark thoughts running through her head, Ginny was a little distracted when they entered the common room. It was for this reason that she was surprised when Ron suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Where the bloody hell have you been with my sister?" he bellowed at Harry. "You've been missing for ages; what have you been doing to her?"

Ginny felt her face redden and her temper rise. It appeared that even the twins had failed to knock some sense into her brother. She was about to confront Ron when Harry stepped in front of her and stood nose to nose him.

"Not that it's any of your business, but we've been down in the kitchens with Luna," Harry said coldly.

"I'm supposed to believe that, am I?" Ron snarled, squaring up to Harry.

"Yeah, you are," Harry replied, standing his ground. "But as I said; it's none of your business. Your sister is quite capable of looking after herself. In fact, keep this behaviour up and I expect that she'll show you exactly just how capably she is of looking after herself."

Ron glared at Harry for a second before glancing at Ginny. The glare on her face must have been enough to convince him to keep his mouth shut. Instead, he just glowered at Harry before turning tail and stomping off. Interestingly, Neville followed him after throwing a dirty look at Ginny.

With an angry huff, Ginny turned and pulled Harry over to a nearly sofa. They both sat silently fuming at Ron's behaviour. Ginny struggled to figure out her brother's attitude. She really didn't believe that he cared a fig about who she spent time with. He'd virtually ignored her for all the time she'd been at Hogwarts, and basically told her to get lost anytime she'd approached him or any of his friends, Harry in particular. Now he seemed to feel he had the right to know exactly where she was at every moment of the day.

She doubted that Ron would have been in the least concerned by her movements if she hadn't replaced him as Harry's closest confident. It was like he was desperately trying to find something to justify his criticisms of Harry, and was angry that he was struggling to find anything. Still, she would never have believed he would allow his insecurities reach this level and she started to wonder how far he was prepared to take things.

"I think you better be careful tonight," she advised Harry. "It looks like Ron's managed to recruit Neville as an ally."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised," he agreed. "Neville seems to have had a problem with me since the ball. For some reason, which I can't fathom, he blames me for both you and Hermione turning him down. How he managed to come to that conclusion, I have no idea."

"Well, you did ask me to accompany you to the ball immediately," Ginny pointed out sarcastically. "It really wasn't fair giving him only three weeks to decide to approach me; after he'd asked Hermione first, of course. And naturally, it's all your fault that he and Ron had a miserable time with the Patil sisters. If you hadn't demonstrated how to be the perfect date that night, Padma and Parvati might not have been encouraged to spend most of the night dancing with boys from Durmstrang, rather than sit about and watch Ron and Neville sulk all evening."

"What a git I've been," Harry moaned tragically. "Should I go and apologise to them both immediately!"

Ginny giggled. "Seriously, Harry, watch yourself tonight. In fact, I think you should cast that Alarm Spell that we use when we're practising around your bed tonight."

"You don't think they'd try anything while I'm asleep, do you?" Harry asked with a frown.

"A few months ago I would have said no way, but lately I just don't know where Ron's head is at," she lamented. "He knows he's no match for you with a wand, so he might try something stupid to try and intimidate you."

"Great, this is really spiralling out of control, Gin," Harry noted angrily.

"The sad thing is that the better you do in the Tournament, or even just in classes, the more jealous Ron is going to get," she predicted. "Just watch him, that's all I'm saying."

"I will, Ginny," he promised.

Ginny just desperately hoped that his caution wouldn't be needed.


	7. Chapter 7 – Hearts of Darkness

**Chapter 7 – Hearts of Darkness**

AN

Just to make up for the gap between posting chapters 5 and 6, here's chapter 7 already. Hopefully this will prevent FreelanceBum from complaining about my posting schedule ;-)

Despite me saying at the start of this story that it wouldn't be an AU tale, I am venturing a bit off the garden path with this chapter, particularly the end part. Aside from the fact that I'd reached seven chapters without killing a single character (which must be a record for me) I wanted to show that despite all the extra knowledge she has gained, Ginny can't expect her plans to always go smoothly. And before anyone asks, more details about exactly what happened in the Astronomy Tower will emerge later in the story.

Huge thanks to my poor, overworked beta Arnel. I swear it's my apparently non-working 'replace' function in word that's responsible for me capitalising 'common room' all the time, honest!

* * *

"He did WHAT?" Ginny raged.

"He tried to attack me while I was in bed," Harry told her angrily.

They had just met as usual in the common room so they could go to breakfast together. Harry's expression had been enough to inform Ginny that something had happened in the boy's dorm the previous night and she'd immediately demanded an explanation.

"I cast that Proximity Alarm Spell just as you suggested last night," Harry started to explain. "About two o'clock it went off and I found Ron and Neville parting the curtains round my bed with their wands at the ready. Thank Merlin you convinced me to get contacts; I would have been helpless if I'd had to have groped around for my glasses. Anyway, I grabbed my wand, which I kept under my pillow, and just as I did, so Ron conjured ropes to tie me to the bed. Luckily, my arms were still free so I was able to Stun Ron. I then dispelled his charm just as Neville responded by leaping on my bed and trying to punch me. Let's face it; he was probably more likely to succeed in doing that then casting a spell! I managed to Petrify him before he got a punch in."

"I'm going to kill Ron," Ginny snarled. "What happened then?"

"Well, by this time Seamus and Dean had woken up. I explained to them what had happened and they weren't exactly surprised. Ron and Neville had apparently been whispering about something earlier, but had shut-up immediately when they had entered the dorm. They then helped me Levitate Ron and Neville onto their beds and tied them down. I then woke Ron up and demanded to know what he was playing at. Basically, all he did was swear at me and threaten to kick my head in."

"What did you do then?" Ginny asked fearfully.

"Nothing much," he shrugged. "Dean and Seamus were as disgusted by him as I was, so we agreed to Silence him and leave him tied to his bed. When we woke up this morning, we released him and Neville. Neither of them said a word; they just stomped off into the bathroom. I haven't seen either of them since."

"We'll have to tell the twins about this," she decided. "We can't have you wondering if you're going to be attacked every night. I think I'll write to Mum, as well."

Harry just nodded sadly. Ginny didn't need to guess what he was thinking. With the disagreement between him and Ron starting to spill over into violence, there was no way Harry could come to the Burrow in the summer. Her heart ached and she began to wonder if intervening in Harry's life had been a good idea, after all.

"Come on, Ginny," he said after a while. "Let's go down to breakfast. Things will look better after a good meal."

They made their way down to the Great Hall and took their usual places opposite Ginny's friends Demelza and Vicky. Both girls were looking at them inquiringly and there seemed to be a lot of muttering going on along the Gryffindor table. Further up, Ginny could see Hermione looking at them with a worried expression on her face. There was no sign of either Ron or Neville.

They had just started eating when someone slapped Harry lightly on the back. Both he and Ginny turned to see Dean and Seamus standing there with determined expressions on their faces.

"Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about those two gits tonight," Seamus started, not needing to explain who the gits actually where. "We went and reported the whole thing to Professor McGonagall."

"What?" Harry exclaimed. "You didn't need to do that. Ron's my problem."

"Yes, we did, Harry" Dean disagreed. "We have to sleep in that dorm, too. Ron's been a complete pain in the arse lately, and he's started to drag Neville along with him now. He seems to think he can solve all his problems with his fists, and we're not going to stand for it. He may have attacked you last night, but how long before Seamus or I do something to piss him off? And let's face it; Ron is pissed-off at pretty much everything at the moment. Nah, he needs to have some sense knocked into him before he becomes convinced he has the right to take a swing at anyone he disagrees with."

"Besides, what he and Neville did last night was just cowardly," Seamus added. "He knew he wouldn't stand a chance confronting you face to face, so he attacks you in your sleep. He doesn't deserve to be in Gryffindor; he should be a Slytherin with an attitude like that!"

"So what will happen now?" Harry asked.

"Don't know," Dean told him. "McGonagall just said she'd take care of it."

"Okay," Harry acknowledged. "Well, thanks, guys."

"No worries, Harry," Seamus said, before he and Dean left to find a seat at the table.

Harry glanced nervously at Ginny. "Look, I never wanted it to go this far," he began. "If I go and talk with McGonagall…"

"Don't you dare," Ginny interrupted angrily. "I know he's my brother, but he still deserves everything he gets. You will NOT try and make it easy for him, clear?"

"Ginny, I…" he began again.

"Mr Potter," a stern voice interrupted. "Will you please accompany me. There are some questions I need to ask you."

They both turned to see Professor McGonagall standing there. Her face was as hard as stone and her posture rigid. She had never looked more intimidating.

With a fearful look on his face, Harry started to stand. Ginny reached out and grabbed him arm just before he started to move.

"Tell her the truth, Harry," she told him intently. "You'll do no one any favours by watering down what happened, least of all Ron."

"Wise words, Miss Weasley," the Professor said. "Though I trust you were not going to attempt to cover up the events of last night, Mr Potter?"

"No, of course not," Harry stammered.

"Which does not explain why you have not sought me out already, Mr Potter," McGonagall said coldly. "You have a lot of explaining to do, young man. Follow me."

And with that, the daunting witch turned and rapidly started walking away. Harry hurried after her, glancing back at Ginny once before he vanished out of the hall. No sooner had he gone than Hermione slipped into his vacant seat.

"What was that all about?" she demanded. "Why is neither Ron nor Neville at breakfast this morning? Something happened last night, didn't it? There are all sorts of rumours going round…"

"Ron and Neville tried to attack Harry when he was asleep last night," Ginny informed her. "They tried to tie him to his bed so he couldn't fight back. They just hadn't counted on Harry setting up an Alarm Charm around his bed."

"They didn't! Oh, please tell me you're joking, Ginny," Hermione begged.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," Ginny said, shaking her head. "I'm afraid my brother has really messed up this time."

There were tears in Hermione's eyes and Ginny could see her shoulders shaking slightly. She looked like she was struggling to keep her composure. Ginny slipped her arm around the older girl's shoulders and hugged her.

"I just wanted things to go back to the way they were," Hermione moaned quietly. "I just wanted my friends back."

As she tried to give the gently sobbing girl what comfort she could, Ginny felt an acid pool of guilt form in her stomach. All she had done was try to help Harry, and now her actions had resulted in everyone ending up miserable. She silently laughed at her own arrogance when she had casually decided Harry would be better off without his two closest friends. At the moment, it was looking like Harry would have been better off without her.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It was lunch time before she saw Harry again. He trudged into the common room with a cloud of misery hanging over his head. Hermione was beside him with the same distressed expression she always seemed to be wearing these days.

"What happened?" Ginny demanded to know once the pair had taken seats.

"Harry was just telling me all about it. Ron and Neville have been put on probation and were given two weeks detention," Hermione explained.

"Oh, well, that's not so bad," Ginny acknowledged, not sure if she was happy or angry at the apparent lenient sentence they had received.

"Yes, it would have been a lot worse if Harry hadn't begged McGonagall not to expel them," Hermione replied in an approving tone.

Ginny glared accusingly at Harry who raised his hands in defence.

"I told McGonagall the truth," he told her. "But I just couldn't stick the knife in. Ron was my best mate; I couldn't let him get kicked out because of this stupid argument between us."

"Well, I hope Ron appreciated it," Ginny huffed.

The ominous silence suggested that her brother hadn't shown much gratitude.

"What happened?" Ginny pressed them.

Hermione looked angry while Harry just glared at the floor.

"The probation and detentions weren't the only thing Professor McGonagall did," Hermione started to explain. "She said she didn't want a repeat of last night's events so she moved Ron and Neville out of their dorm. They have to sleep with the third years' now and are forbidden to enter the fourth years' room."

Despite herself Ginny couldn't help but giggle. "Ron has to sleep in the third year's dorm? Oh, he'll absolutely hate that!"

"You're not helping, Ginny," Hermione scolded her. "He did hate it and he nearly got himself thrown out of school when he started yelling at Harry that it was all his fault!"

"That was smart; right in front of McGonagall," Ginny noted. "What happened then?"

"McGonagall doubled the length of Ron's detention and she went to the Floo and contacted your mum," Harry interrupted before Hermione could speak again. "After hearing what had happened, she insisted in coming through to McGonagall's office. If I thought that the Professor had given Ron a tongue lashing, I really hadn't seen anything yet. He was nearly in tears by the time your mum had finished with him!"

Ginny groaned. She'd only been on the receiving end of her mother's full wrath a few times before, but it was a sufficiently horrific experience that she actually started to feel slightly sorry for her brother. Still, if anything was going to get the message through to her thick-headed sibling, it would be a Molly Weasley dressing-down.

"So, did it finally sink into Ron's rock-hard skull to leave you alone?" she asked him.

"I think so," Harry confirmed. "But I expect he's going to avoid me like the dragon pox from now on. He practically sprinted from McGonagall's office without a backward glance."

"I can't believe this has happened," Hermione moaned. "I really thought we would be friends for life; that we'd stand by each other through thick and thin. But there's no chance of that happening now."

"Just because we've fallen out doesn't mean that you can't be friends with him still," Harry told her. "I won't be upset if you still want to hang around with him."

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Harry," Hermione said sadly. "It was like I thought; by still being your friend Ron now thinks I'm a traitor and wants nothing to do with me. He made that VERY clear."

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he said. "I know you really liked him. I feel terrible that this whole stupid thing has come between you two."

"It's alright. Better I find out what he's truly like now then later," she replied quietly.

They sat in silence for a while before Hermione started to sniffle. Before she could stop herself, she broke down completely and started crying her eyes out. Harry moved over and tentatively put his arm round her shoulders. Hermione buried her face into his shirt and sobbed uncontrolledly.

Ginny watched the pair with tears in her own eyes. She was convinced she had caused this situation, and now she had to sit and watch the results.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Before they knew it, the next Hogsmeade visit was upon them.

While Ginny might have wished for a relaxing, fun weekend to take her mind off everything, she and Harry had an important task to take care of that day. Sirius had insisted in seeing Harry in person and a meeting had been arranged for twelve. They were to rendezvous with Sirius at a quite location outside the village where he would lead to a more secluded spot away from prying eyes.

Harry had asked Hermione to accompany them as well, but she had begged off, claiming she had too much homework to do. Of course, all three of them knew that was a blatant lie as Hermione would have any assignments completed and double checked on the night it was received, but no one made a fuss about it. It was clear Hermione sometimes felt like a third wheel around Harry and Ginny these days, and had no desire to trail around after them like a hanger-on. Ginny suspected Harry was unhappy his friend felt like that, but she noted that he didn't try too hard to persuade her otherwise. Hermione's abandonment of him earlier in the term obviously still lingered in Harry's mind.

So it was that just the two of them set off for the village that morning. They arrived at Hogsmeade without any problems and made a big show of looking around various shops before slinking off when no one was around. They headed towards the Shrieking Shack and in a field nearby they encountered a large, black dog that turned and trotted off slowly at the sight of them.

Following the dog at a discreet distance, they walked uphill for a good half an hour before they found themselves standing before a small cave entrance that was well hidden from casual eyes. Harry and Ginny carefully entered the cave and stood blinking as their eyes adjusted to the dim light.

When her vision cleared, Ginny could see that the dog had apparently vanished and in his place was a grubby, dark-haired man wearing raggedy grey robes. On catching sight of the man, Harry leapt forward and greeted him.

"Sirius!" Harry cried. "I've really missed you. But you really shouldn't have come here; it's just too dangerous."

"I've got to fulfil my role as godfather," Sirius disagreed. "Besides, I'm perfectly safe as long as I stay as Padfoot. Err, did you bring some food like I asked?"

"Oh, yeah!" Harry said, sliding a rucksack he'd been carrying off his shoulders. "I've really come prepared. I figured that being on the run you could use a few things."

When Harry had confided to Ginny a few weeks before that he'd received a letter from Sirius requesting this meeting, she'd questioned him extensively about his godfather and what he'd been doing since he escaped from Azkaban. Harry had speculated that Sirius was probably relying on his Animagi skills quite a lot, and had decided to do something to help make his life a bit more comfortable. After a quick visit to the Headmaster, who had discreetly provided some help, Harry had assembled a large bag of useful items to aid Sirius.

"What's all this?" Black asked as he opened the rucksack in surprise. "I just asked for a bit of food."

"Yeah, but I figured you might need a few more things," Harry said. "There's an Undetectable Extension Charm on the rucksack, so I've been able to get quite a lot of stuff in it. Inside, you'll find a tent with a fully equipped kitchen and bathroom; Dumbledore bought it for me in Diagon Alley. There should be about a month's worth of food, mainly in Muggle tins, to keep you going. I had to guess at your size, but there several changes of clothing, both Muggle and wizard, in there, too. I also got the Headmaster to convert a load of Galleons into Muggle money so you should be able to stock up in shops as you go; just remember to cast a glamour charm on yourself when you do because your description was spread about the Muggle press quite a bit. If you do start to run low on money let me know and I'll arrange for more to be sent to you. That's the benefit of most Muggle money being made of paper; it's easy to send by owl."

"And here I was thinking I was here to look after you, not the other way around," Sirius said, shaking his head. "But thanks for doing this for me, Harry. I won't lie; all this stuff is very welcome."

Harry beamed.

"By the way, Harry, where's Ron and Hermione? I would have expected them to be with you. And I've yet to be introduced to the pretty little witch you have brought," Sirius commented while simultaneously ransacking the rucksack for food.

"Uh, you see, I've had a bit of a falling out with Ron. He refused to believe that I didn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire and has been acting really stupidly about it. Hermione initially kind of sided with him, but more to try and save our friendships than anything else. We've made up since, but she was too busy to come today. As for the pretty little witch, this is my very good friend Ginny Weasley. I tell you, Sirius, I wouldn't have made it through this term without her, she's been brilliant!" Harry exclaimed.

Sirius paused from ripping a loaf of bread apart and looked at Ginny with a raised eyebrow.

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Weasley," he said. "Thank you for being such a good friend to my godson."

"It was nothing," Ginny replied, blushing at Harry's warm introduction. "Harry saved my life a couple of years back and I know if our positions were reversed now he wouldn't think twice about helping me."

Sirius grinned at both of them for a moment, before turning his attention to a whole cellophane-wrapped chicken he had found in the rucksack. He hurriedly unwrapped it and began to eat ravenously.

"So," Sirius said between mouthfuls, "bring me up to speed on everything that's happened to you since we last spoke."

Harry launched into an account of everything that had happened recently. He went into particular detail about the second task and all the training he and Ginny had been undertaking. Sirius had seemed particularly impressed with Harry's Transfiguration skills.

"Your dad was wonderful at Transfiguration, Harry," he told him, "and it looks like it's not just his Quidditch skills you've inherited. But still, that's a pretty advanced spell you mastered; I'm very impressed. I must confess I've never heard of this 'Mind Fortress' spell you talked about. Where on earth did you find that?"

"I found it in some old spell-book," Ginny piped up. "I can't remember the name of the book, I'm afraid."

Sirius looked at her intently and for a moment Ginny was convinced that the man knew she was lying. He said nothing, however, and just nodded thoughtfully. He turned to Harry again.

"You've done wonderfully so far, Harry, but I would rest easier at night if we could just figure out how you got entered into this Tournament. There are a lot of strange things going on at the moment and it's making me nervous," Sirius mused. "There's still no word about what's happened to Bertha Jorkins, for example. Barty Crouch being off sick for so long, as well. That man hasn't taken a sick-day in twenty years, yet just when this big, important tournament is underway he throws a sickie. That's a strange coincidence."

"He's signed off sick?" Harry asked in puzzlement. "But I've seen him around the castle loads of times on the Marauder's Map. He's been spending most of his time with Moody in his office."

"With Moody?" Sirius said, his surprise evident.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it," Harry insisted. "I remember being surprised at him being here all the time because I never see him actually around here in the flesh. I assumed he was just staying out the way and running things from behind the scenes."

"Possibly," Sirius replied, not sounding convinced. "I want you to keep an eye on Barty Crouch and let me or Dumbledore know if you spot anything weird. Barty's behaviour has been a bit odd lately and I want to know why."

"Do you think he had anything to do with Harry's name being entered into the Goblet?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know. I don't see what his motivation would be, but I'm not ruling it out," Sirius responded. "My money is still on Karkaroff; that man really is a nasty piece of work and I wouldn't put it past him to try something to ingratiate himself again with the other ex-Death Eaters. Mind you, I wouldn't put it past Snape to have entered you just to get you into trouble. It's just the sort of pretty minded stunt he'd pull."

"No, I really don't think Snape would do this," Ginny disagreed. "He might hate Harry, but Snape's never done anything that would endanger him."

"As much as I hate to say it, I think Ginny's right. He even tried to save my life back in my first year when Quirrell was trying to curse my broom," Harry pointed out.

"I suppose," Sirius relented. "But I still don't trust Snape fully. That man is working to his own agenda, mark my words."

"Yeah, well, we'll keep an eye on him, just like all the others," Harry sighed. "Was there anything else we needed to talk about?"

"Actually, yes," Sirius said with a big grin on his face. "I'd like to know what exactly is going on between you and this pretty little redhead. Ever since you arrived here, you've both been sneaking glances at each other when you think no one's looking. Are you two an item?"

Harry blushed. "Err, well, we kind of talked about dating, but decided that with everything going on it wouldn't be a good idea right at the moment. We are going to think about it at the end of term, though."

Sirius nodded. "For what my opinions worth, don't be too worried about everything else. Harry, I'm sorry, but I don't think you're ever going to have a normal life, so don't miss out on all the good stuff just because of all things that happen to you. It's pretty obvious from watching the pair of you that you both really like each other. So, my advice is get this stupid Tournament done with and then don't let anything else stand in your way."

"It's not really that simple, Sirius," Harry said mournfully. "But right now all I'm worried about is getting through this Tournament alive."

Sirius nodded and looked at Harry sympathetically. "No, I don't suppose things are ever simple for you, are they? But I will promise you one thing, Harry. If I do ever manage to get my name cleared I'll take over guardianship of you just like your parents wanted, and you can come and live with me. I've done a bloody shoddy job of being a godfather so far, and I intend to make up for it."

Without a word, Harry stood and threw his arms around his godfather. Sirius fiercely returned the hug and Ginny could see the man had tears in his eyes.

As she watched them, Ginny silently made a promise. She would do everything in her power to ensure that Sirius Black was cleared and that Harry could, for the first time in his life, have a decent, loving home to go to.

Somehow, she would find a way.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"Bloody hell, Harry! That was brilliant!" Ginny exclaimed.

She stared at the shattered remains of what had once been one of the desks they had been using to cast spells at. Harry had just cast a Blasting Curse at the desk with impressive results.

"Wow," Harry gasped, looking a little shocked at his own actions. "I never thought I'd be able to do that!"

"I keep telling you, Harry, you're a powerful wizard," she assured him.

Harry turned and smiled at her shyly.

Despite everything going on, Harry's training had continued relentlessly on. If she was honest, Ginny would have to admit she loved their time together. When they were training, it was the only time she and Harry were really alone together. It may have been her imagination, but she felt that when it was just the two of them, Harry seemed more open and affectionate with her. But that hadn't stopped her relentlessly driving both of them on as hard as she could. With just three months until the final task, it seemed like every second was precious.

She had to admit though, she was incredibly proud of the progress Harry had made up to this point. Magically, he was coming on in leaps and bounds. He seemed to have gained a lot of confidence in his spell casting, possibly as a result of not having Hermione correct and belittle him constantly. He had easily doubled his repertoire of spells and was casting them with power and precision. He was picking up new ones faster, too.

Physically, he was stronger and faster. By bullying Harry into eating properly, and adding a course of nutritional supplements into his diet, he no longer looked like a he'd blow away in a strong breeze. Indeed, the regular exercise he was getting had given him a wiry strength and he looked exactly what he should have previously been: a fit, strong, young man.

The downside to this, at least from Ginny's perspective, was the amount of interest he was attracting from the young witches around the castle. Harry was now past the age where he could be considered cute, and was now verging on becoming handsome. Without his glasses obscuring them, his startling green eyes were enough to make the many a young girls' knees tremble and his messy, jet-black hair made them long to run their fingers through it. His rapidly maturing body was getting many admiring glances, too. Ginny had even seen Cho Chang eyeing Harry appreciatively the other day. Cow.

But all this mattered not a jot to Harry. The girls who were fluttering their eyelashes at him today were the same ones who had shunned him and accused him of cheating back in October. Once you lost Harry Potter's trust, it was a hard thing to get back. Ginny could reassure herself that the only girls Harry was friendly with were Hermione, Luna and herself, though he was still a bit distant with Hermione at times.

"It's starting to get late, do you want to call it a night?" Harry asked, rousing her from her musings.

"Um, yeah. We've worked pretty hard today, I think we deserve to skive-off a few minutes early," she responded.

"Wow, you're so generous, Gin," Harry said sarcastically. "I just won't know what to do with all this free time!"

"You could do some more press-ups, if you like," she replied sweetly.

"Sweet Merlin, woman!" he wailed dramatically. "I already did seventy-five today, what more do you want of me?"

"A hundred would be good," she replied, tapping her chin with her finger as if she was considering making him do more.

Harry raised his hands in surrender. "Seriously, Gin, I am knackered. The only reason I would have for laying face-down on the floor is if I've fallen asleep, not that I'm getting ready to do more exercise."

"Lazy!" she teased him, but only gently. Harry was working hard and they both knew it.

They made their way to the door of the classroom and Harry paused to look at the Marauders' Map. They were probably a bit paranoid about security, but with whoever had placed Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire still at large, you could never be too careful. As he scanned the map, a frown came onto Harry's face.

"What's the matter?" Ginny asked.

"Theodore Nott is in the corridor outside," Harry explained. "He's not doing anything. He's just standing there."

"What the hell does that slimy bastard want?" Ginny growled. Nott was one of dedicated supporters of the Dark Lord and a nasty piece of work, to boot.

"Don't know," Harry replied. "What do we do? Do we wait until he leaves or do we just ignore him?"

"I doubt it's a coincidence that he happens to be hanging around outside this particular classroom, Harry," she pointed out. "I don't like the idea of him spying on us. I say we confront him."

Harry pulled out his wand. "Fair enough. Actually, I was hoping you were going to say that!"

"Let's get him," Ginny agreed and pulled open the door of the classroom with a jerk.

The pair of them hurried outside and turned to confront the Slytherin boy. Unfortunately, the corridor appeared completely empty. Harry immediately pulled out the map again and hurriedly looked at it. It still clearly displayed Nott as standing about fifteen feet away, but there was no sign of the boy.

Ginny drew a quick breath and grabbed Harry's arm. She pulled him down the corridor in the opposite direction from where the map said Nott was standing.

"Keep walking and don't look back," she whispered to Harry.

"Why? What's going on?" Harry whispered back.

"Put it this way, I don't think you're the only person here with an Invisibility Cloak. Have a look at the map and see if Nott is following us, but try not to make it obvious," she hissed at him.

Harry very carefully glanced at the map, keeping it close to his body so no one standing behind him could see what he was doing.

"Yeah, he's following us," Harry confirmed.

"I want to know what this is about," Ginny whispered. "Let's head for the Astronomy Tower. We can lure him into a dead-end and capture him there. He'll probably think we're just heading up there to snog or something."

A second later, Ginny was stunned when Harry slipped his arm around her waist. She looked at him in surprise.

"Just selling the story that we're heading to the tower to snog," he informed her, before planting a light kiss on top of her head.

"Feel free to sell the story as much as you like," she whispered mischievously. "Giving my bum a squeeze would definitely do it."

It was Harry's turn to look shocked. He stared at her like he was trying to decide if she was joking or not. In the end, he obviously decided that leaving his hand around her middle was probably the safest option.

They continued on in silence, with Harry surreptitiously checking the map every once in a while. Soon, they were at the door to the Astronomy Tower. They opened it and hurried through, purposely not closing it properly behind them. They sprinted up the last set of stairs and looked around for ambush positions.

"Harry, I'll hide behind this storage box while you stay on the other side of the room under your cloak. Hopefully, we'll hear his footsteps and be able to capture him," she ordered.

"Okay, but be careful," he replied before disappearing from sight as he pulled the cloak over himself.

Ginny crouched down behind a large, wooden box used to store stands for telescopes, and listened intently. She could hear her own heart pounding as she strained to hear the slightest noise. All was quiet, however. She cursed that she couldn't see the Marauders' Map to check the progress of the Slytherin, as he seemed to be taking an awful long time. Gently as she could, she peered around the box.

Without warning, a hand clamped itself around her mouth and an arm wrapped itself around her, clamping her arms to her side. She struggled, but whoever was holding her was too strong. She kicked out, but only succeeded in kicking the storage box.

A cry of pain came from behind her and she suddenly found herself free. She turned and saw Harry and Theodore Nott locked in a bitter struggle. She raised he wand but was afraid she would hit Harry if she cast a hex at them. Instead, she leapt up and kicked Nott in the shin as hard as she could.

Nott bellowed in pain and managed to push Harry off him. Harry tumbled backwards and fell on the floor. Nott quickly pulled out his wand and pointed it at him as he struggled to get up.

"_Protego!"_ Ginny yelled, putting a shield up between Harry and Nott just in time to deflect the Stunning Spell that Nott had cast.

Nott whipped round and sent another Stunner at her, but she just dodged it. With his face contorted in anger, the boy lunged at Ginny with his hand outstretched like claw.

_"Depulso!"_ Ginny screamed in a panic, determined not to let the Slytherin boy touch her again.

Unfortunately, great minds think alike and Harry, who was still on the floor but had managed to grab his wand, had also cast a Banishing Charm at Nott. Harry had thrown a tremendous amount of power into his charm, and Ginny hadn't held back either. The combined spells slammed into Nott like a sledgehammer and sent him flying backwards in a blur.

Nott's body smashed against the railing running around the edge of the tower and for a second it looked like he would fall safely to the floor. Unfortunately, his momentum was just enough to tip him over the edge and he slid out of sight.

With a horrified gasp, Ginny lunged to the railing with Harry right behind her. They reached the railing and peered over in time to see Nott's falling body slam into a window ledge that protruded out from the lower part of the tower. Nott's head connected against the stone and even in the dark Ginny was certain she saw blood. Neither Harry nor Ginny moved until Nott's tumbling body was out of sight.

"We have to get down there," Harry eventually said, shaking Ginny from her stupor.

Not waiting for a response, Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the tower door. Ginny's mind was numb; she couldn't take in what had just happened. Had she just killed someone? How could she have done that? She wasn't Tom Riddle; someone who ruthlessly killed anyone who stood in her way. Nott couldn't be dead, could he?

As soon as they reached the main corridor, Harry threw his Invisibility Cloak over the two of them. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Ginny marvelled that Harry could think so clearly in the circumstances, but that was what he did, wasn't it? He was the action hero who was always cool under pressure, while she just felt like screaming. Her legs were like jelly and she had an urge to vomit.

In a surprisingly short time, they had exited the castle via the main doors and made their way around the outside until they reached the foot of the Astronomy Tower. There was nothing there.

"Spread out a bit," Harry instructed. "He can't be far away."

It was a dark night and there was very little light in this part of the castle grounds. It was unsurprising, therefore, that Ginny's foot encountered the body of Theodore Nott before she could see it. Fighting down the urge to scream, she called Harry over. Harry knelt over the body and rapidly examined it.

"He's dead," Harry whispered in an unemotional voice. "You were right about him having an Invisibility Cloak; I found one stuffed in his pocket."

"Harry, what are we going to do?" Ginny begged, she voice close to hysteria. "They'll throw us into Azkaban for life!"

"Shut up a second; , let me think," Harry snapped. "Okay, no one has any reason to link us with Nott's death. No one saw anything. All we have to do is hide the body and keep our mouths shut."

"But Harry…" Ginny began before he cut her off.

"We haven't got time to discuss this! Come on, we'll cover Nott's body with his Invisibility Cloak and Levitate him out of here. I know the perfect place to dump the body," Harry insisted.

Harry worked rapidly, wrapping the cloak around the boy's body and Levitating it before him. He then set off at a quick pace, his wand extended before him. Ginny hurried after him, not wanting to be left by herself.

They walked for a good ten minutes before Ginny realised they were heading towards the Forbidden Forest. While she realised that was probably the perfect place to hide the body, the thought of entering the dark woods terrified her. She sped up a little and clutched Harry's arm. In the dark, she could just make out him smiling reassuringly at her.

The journey through the forest was a nightmare. Branches clawed at her face and she frequently stumbled. She had no idea where they were heading and was certain that they were hopelessly lost. Harry, however, just kept grimly walking on, apparently confident of his route. After what left like hours of walking, Harry suddenly stopped.

"What are we…" Ginny began.

"Shush!" Harry ordered and stood peering into the dark.

Somewhere to Ginny's left, she heard something move followed by a strange chittering noise. She gripped Harry's arm tightly.

"Harry, what was that?" Ginny asked, the fear evident in her voice.

"Good, we're in the right place," Harry replied. He lowered Nott's body and pulled the cloak off the boy. For a second, he looked undecided before he stuffed the cloak into Nott's pocket.

"The cloak would have been useful, but we just can't risk being caught with it," he muttered.

He stood and grabbed Ginny's hand, pulling her behind him. They stumbled along in the dark for sometime before Ginny could take no more. She pulled her hand away and sunk to the ground. Tears began to fall and she sobbed in misery. A few seconds later she felt Harry's arms around her and he pulled her close.

"It's okay, Gin," he assured her. "No one will ever find the body. It's all going to be alright."

"How can you say that?" she asked in a broken voice. "I killed Nott, Harry! I'm a killer! How can I ever live with myself?"

"WE killed Nott," Harry insisted. "And remember; he attacked us. It was self-defence."

"Then why didn't we go to the Headmaster or McGonagall? They would have listened to us," she demanded.

"I thought you didn't trust the Headmaster?" Harry pointed out. "Besides, I'm Harry Potter. When have I ever been given a fair hearing?"

"But…" she stuttered.

"No, Ginny. Even if Dumbledore believes us, others would use this against me. Look at how many people believed that stupid Rita Skeeter story about me being unstable," Harry pointed out. "Someone like Lucius Malfoy would jump on this. I'd be in Azkaban before my feet touched the ground, and let me tell you, Ginny. I'm NOT going to Azkaban. I'd rather die first."

Ginny looked at him and for the first time in her life saw fear in his eyes. Of course, she knew the effect that the Dementors had on him and that was why he'd worked so hard to perfect the Patronus Charm last year. But what if he couldn't protect himself? She imagined him, locked in some dark, dank cell; screaming as he relived his worst nightmares again and again and again. It would be hell on earth for him. He was right; death would be better.

"Okay," she agreed nervously, "so we keep this quiet. But are you sure Nott's body won't be discovered? After all, Hagrid comes out here sometimes and there's bound to be a search when it's realised Nott is missing."

"Nah, I came to this part of the forest for a very specific reason," Harry told her. "That noise you heard was an Acromantula. There's a big colony of them back there. Remember Ron and I visited them in your first year after Hagrid was arrested? Trust me, they'll have picked up Nott's scent by now and pretty soon there will be nothing left of him."

Ginny shuddered at Harry's apparent ruthlessness. She'd never imagined he could be this cold-blooded. The expression on her face must have betrayed her thoughts as Harry looked at her sadly.

"Look, Ginny. I don't like this anymore than you, but the fact is that we are at war and in wars people get killed. Nott's dad was a Death Eater and I bet Theodore would be one, too, if Voldemort was still around. He was up to something and he was quite willing to attack you for some reason. There's no saying that one of us might not have been thrown off the Tower rather than him if we hadn't fought back. It's horrible that he had to die, but if there was the slightest risk of him harming you, then I would do the same thing a hundred times over," he told her, his green eyes blazing in determination.

Squeezing her eyes tight shut to stop the tears, Ginny nodded. Harry was right. Of course he was right. They were at war with Voldemort's followers and they would have jumped for joy if either Harry or herself had been killed. It was time for her to stop acting like a little girl and become the woman that Harry needed her to be.

"What do we do now?" she asked, her voice steadier than before.

"We go back to the castle and pretend this never happened. If anyone asks, we were out here snogging. Everyone thinks that's what we've been up to anyway, so no one should question it." He stood and offered her his hand. "Come on, Gin. It's getting late and we need to get back."

Ginny allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they started to head back to Hogwarts. While she was calmer than before, her mind was still racing at a hundred miles an hour. Guilt and fear still raged within her, and she was sure that this would haunt her for the rest of her life. That was irrelevant, though. Through it all, the one thing she kept thinking about was the fear in Harry's eyes at the thought of going to Azkaban. She would never allow that to happen.

But still, while there was no evidence linking them to Nott's death, both Snape and Dumbledore were skilled Legilimens, and could pull their thoughts out of their minds with ease. The Mind Fortress Spell could only do so much, she realised. No, they would have to start learning Occlumency as soon as possible.

With these thoughts dominating her mind, Ginny wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings. Fortunately, Harry was more alert then she and just as they had reached the Quidditch supply sheds she felt him stiffen and pull her to one side.

"Someone's coming," he whispered urgently. "We'd better make this look good."

Before she knew what was happening, she felt Harry's lips on her and his arms around her waist. It took a second to realise that Harry was maintaining their cover story of sneaking off to snog, but she was still stunned. Then, before she knew what she was doing, she found her hands running through his hair and her lips attacking his fiercely. She felt his arms tighten around her and he pressed her hard against the wall of the shed. Their tongues met and began a frenzied dance and their bodies rubbed against each other. She moaned in pleasure as his hands gripped her bum cheeks and squeezed. Removing one hand from Harry's hair, she began to rub it up and down his chest, feeling the tight muscles that he was developing.

"What's going on here?" demanded a stern voice.

Both she and Harry leapt a foot in the air. They had become so wrapped up in each other that they had forgotten about whoever it was that had been approaching. Ginny looked up and saw Professor Moody glaring at them.

"Oh, um…Sir! We were, that is… um," Harry mumbled, apparently genuinely embarrassed.

"I can see what you were doing, boy," Moody snapped. "But that's no reason to let your guard down. Anyone could have crept up behind you while you and Weasley were mauling each other. If you're going to do that, find somewhere that no one can see you, not the middle of a bloody field."

"Sorry, sir," Harry said apologetically. "It's just all the good spots were taken tonight, so we came out here for a bit of privacy. We should have been more careful, sorry."

"That's alright, lad. You wouldn't believe it, but I was young myself once," Moody grunted.

"Yes, sir," Harry mumbled. "We'll head back to the castle now, if that's alright."

"Yes, it's way after curfew, so be careful," Moody replied. "Before you go, have you two seen anyone else out here tonight?"

Harry and Ginny looked at each other for a second. "No, sir. Was it anyone specific you were looking for?" Harry asked.

"No, I just thought I saw someone skulking about," Moody said, sounding a little distracted. "Well, don't just stand there. Back to the castle with you."

Neither of them needed any further encouragement. They hurried back to the common room in complete silence, neither of them mentioning the events of the night. Once they passed through the portrait hole, they paused and stopped to look at each other for a moment.

Ginny wanted to say something, but words failed her. What she really wanted was for Harry to take her in his arms again and kiss her. She just wanted to forget everything apart from his hands on her body and his lips on hers, but he knew the time wasn't right. Harry's brilliant green eyes were unreadable, but she felt that his thoughts were the same as hers. They now shared a terrible secret and that would pull them even closer. Together, they had experienced something that they could tell no other person in the world about; their shared heart of darkness.

After a while, Harry stepped for and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight, Ginny. We'll talk in the morning, okay?"

"Yes, in the morning," she replied. "Sleep well."

He turned and made his way up to the boy's dormitory and she watched him until he vanished from sight. She turned and her way up to her own bed.

She prepared for bed and slipped between the cool sheets gratefully. The horror of the night's events nearly overwhelmed her and she fervently wished Harry was there. Pushing the thoughts of Nott's falling body from her mind, she concentrated on what it had felt like to have Harry's hands caressing her body and his lips pressed roughly against her own. Soon, she began to drift off, lost in dreams of his comforting touch. Surprisingly, she slept like a log for the rest of the night.


	8. Chapter 8 – The Mirror Black

**Chapter 8 – The Mirror Black **

AN

I don't know, I throw one Slytherin off a tower and look at all the kerfuffle it causes! Really!

Snigger. I did enjoy the very mixed reactions I got to the last chapter. Most people seemed to fall into one of two camps. It was either 'you've turning children into killers, you bastard!' or 'shouldn't they have wiped the blood off that window ledge?' I think one reviewer summed it up best with that old quote: a good friend will help you move house, a true friend will help you move the bodies. Wise words.

Those of a nervous disposition will be pleased to know no one gets thrown off anything in this chapter; there are even some quite fluffy moments to tug at the heart-strings! Of course, my idea of fluff appears to be quite different from most people, so be warned.

Mega thanks to Arnel for her wonderful beta work and her welcome sympathy for my injured foot. Ouch!

* * *

"Oh, sweet Merlin, what has that cow written now?" Harry demanded, as he sat himself down for breakfast.

Hermione, who had been looking at her newly delivered copy of the Daily Prophet, just shook her head and thrust the paper at Harry, clearly too upset to talk. Harry took the paper and began to read with a resigned expression on his face. As Hermione looked like she was nearly in tears, Ginny feared the worst.

The last couple of weeks had been strange ones for her. Theodore Nott's disappearance had been noticed the day after she and Harry had accidentally thrown the boy off the Astronomy Tower, but the investigation had never involved them. They'd had a brief moment of panic when they remembered the blood-splattered window ledge in the tower, but a swift visit under Harry's Invisibility Cloak and a couple of Cleaning Charms had sorted that problem. Eventually, as there was no evidence of foul play, it was declared that Nott had run away and was officially listed as missing. Ginny had nearly broken down in tears of relief when she heard that. The worst time for her had been when the staff of Hogwarts had mounted a search of the Forbidden Forest, but nothing had been found. The Acromantulas had obviously done their work well.

With no suspicion being pointed towards Harry or her, things had settled back down into their normal routine. At her insistence, however, they had immediately begun Occlumency training, but it would be many months before that would yield results. In the meantime, she became quite fanatical about casting the Mind Fortress Spell whenever she was around teachers, and had urged Harry to do the same.

Harry.

Without his quiet support Ginny knew she would have broken down and confessed everything by now. At first, she'd been a bit alarmed at how calmly Harry had been handling everything, but after a few days she gained a new appreciation of her friend. Occasionally, his eyes would betray the pain and worry that he normally hid so well, but he carried on with a grim determination that amazed her. It was then she began to think of Harry as a soldier, fighting in some bitter war he never wanted any part of. He hated killing and bloodshed, but equally he would do whatever he needed to do to win and defeat Voldemort's followers. It also explained why Harry was doing so well at the extra training that they had been doing; he was preparing himself for battle. Once she accepted this idea and tried applying it to herself, she found herself feeling a little bit better. Still, she clung to Harry like a lifeline.

"That bitch!" Harry snarled, bringing Ginny back to reality.

"What's Skeeter said about you now?" she asked.

"It's not so much me this time," Harry lamented, "she's mainly having a go at you and Hermione."

"What!" Ginny exclaimed snatching the paper out of Harry's hands. Quickly, she began to read the front page article.

It was true; the article was another fairy-tale about Harry's supposed love life. This time, however, Hermione had been cast in the role of an ambitious and manipulative temptress, who had dumped Harry for the rich and famous Viktor Krum. Harry had apparently been heart-broken and, on the rebound, had fallen into the arms of a scheming gold-digger named Guinevere Weasley. It was hinted that she was using Love Potions to keep Harry under her control, so she could systematically steal his fortune. Ginny scrunched the paper into a ball and threw it as hard as she could away from her.

"Skeeter couldn't even get your name right," Harry noted. "And I must say, Gin, if you're stealing my fortune you're not doing a very good job of it. I think you'd better up the dosage of those Love Potions."

"Don't even joke about this, Harry," Ginny growled. "If Mum reads this I'll never hear the last of it. She'll think I'm a scarlet woman."

"Well, with that hair you could be called a scarlet woman," Harry note with a wry grin, "and you do look lovely wearing red."

"Do you find this funny?" Ginny challenged him, a note of anger in her voice.

"No, not really," Harry replied calmly. "That bloody cow Skeeter has hurt my two best friends, and trust me, I will get my own back. It's just I can't take anything the woman says too seriously anymore. I know everything she writes is a pile of crap and I'm going to treat it accordingly. And let's face it, Ginny; if anyone will willingly believe what that woman writes about you, you know they're not your friend."

"True," she replied, her anger fading slightly. "Still, I think I'd better send a letter to Mum immediately. I don't want her to get worked up and send me a howler, or something."

"Good idea," Harry agreed. "You can use Hedwig if you like. You might want to get the twins to write to your mum, as well, just to back you up. If Ron sends a letter home, there's no telling what he'll say."

"That's a good suggestion," Ginny agreed. "So, what do you think? Is it time for Harry Potter to do another interview for The Quibbler? I can't wait to see what Luna will write about your tragic love-life."

"That's a bloody good idea," Harry agreed. "Hey, Hermione. Do you fancy being interviewed for The Quibbler, too? Give you a chance to tell your side of things?"

Hermione looked up in surprise. "Well, I'm not sure they'd want to interview me, but if they do, I'll willingly give my side of the story."

"Oh, I think they will want to interview you," Ginny assured them. "I think Luna's dad takes special pleasure in showing up the Daily Prophet. I'd bet they'd jump at the chance!"

They ate the rest of their breakfast in somewhat better spirits. There were some abusive shouts from the Slytherin table directed at them, but Harry and his friends had long since learnt to ignore them. After they finished, Harry and Hermione said their goodbyes and headed off for their first lesson of the day, Charms, while Ginny lingered to have a quick word with Fred and George. The twins proved sympathetic to her plight and agreed to write to their mother that very night. Feeling encouraged, Ginny left the hall to head to her first lesson of the day, History of Magic.

After leaving the hall, she was surprised to see a large group had gathered in the Entrance Hall, and she could just make out voices shouting from the centre of the crowd. She was about to ignore the group and walk on by, when she heard the distinctive tones of her brother. Groaning, she began to push her way to the front of the crowd.

Sure enough, once she reached the front she found Harry and a tearful Hermione being confronted by an enraged Ron and a sullen Neville. The crowd seemed to be anticipating a good fight and several people were shouting encouragement, although to which side Ginny wasn't sure.

"You're just a bloody slag, Granger!" Ron was yelling. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself throwing yourself at Krum, like that. You're a traitor to Hogwarts!"

"Shut it, Ron," Harry yelled back. "You're just jealous! You nearly wet yourself in excitement when Krum arrived at the start of the Tournament."

"That's a lie!" Ron shouted back. "Besides, Krum wasn't competing against Hogwarts then, was he? I bet he only picked up Granger so he could spy on you. Not that you deserve to be in the Tournament, you cheating bastard."

"I've not said a word to Viktor about the Tournament!" Hermione shrieked. "In fact, I've not spoken to him since the second task."

"Oh, realised Krum isn't really interested in you, have you?" Ron taunted. "Trying to get back in with Harry? Merlin, you're such a tramp!"

"Piss off, you moron," Harry raged. "Hermione is my friend and she's not 'trying to get back in with me' as you charmingly put it. I can't believe you're so stupid to believe those stories in the paper. Only a gullible fool would believe them."

"Gullible fool, am I?" Ron snarled. "Just because someone started telling the truth about you, you don't like it, do you? And let me tell you something else; you'd better leave my sister alone or I'll kick your head in!"

"Ginny is free to be friends with whoever she likes!" Harry raged. "She doesn't need an idiot like you trying to run her life for her."

"Ginny's just a naïve little girl," Ron spat back, clearly not noticing his sister in the crowd, "and I'm not going to let you take advantage of her. Shag that stuck-up Muggle-born if you want, but if you lay one finger on Ginny you are dead!"

Unable to stand any more, Ginny stepped forwards, trembling with rage. "You complete bastard!" she raged. "How dare you talk about me in that way in front of everyone? I can't believe you! Do you think you have the right to tell me what to do? You've been acting like a jealous little prick since the start of this term and if you think I'm going to stand by and let you insult me, Harry and Hermione like that, you've got another thing coming!"

"Get out of here, Ginny," Ron yelled, "I'll deal with you later. But first, I'm going to teach this stuffed-up ponce a lesson!"

As soon as the words had left Ron's mouth, he drew his wand and pointed it at Harry. Without thinking, Ginny drew her wand and aimed it at her brother.

_"Chiroptera Mucous!"_ she cried.

The curse hit Ron squarely in the face and he screamed as his own mucus hardened into bat-like shapes and began to claw at his face. He dropped his wand as he frantically began to try and beat the shapes away with both his hands.

"Drop it, Longbottom, or you'll be spending the next month in the Hospital Wing," she heard Harry say in a low, dangerous tone.

Looking over, she saw Neville had his wand pointed directly at her; however, his eyes were looking fearfully in Harry's direction. Harry also had his wand drawn, and it was pointed unwaveringly at the plump boy. A second late, Hermione stepped forward with her wand pointing at Neville, too. Longbottom lowered his arm, and began to back away, much to the derision of the gathered crowd.

Ron's pained cries drew her attention back to her brother. By now he was curled into a ball trying to protect his face. Ginny had never cast her favoured Bat-Boogie Hex with so much power or spite before, and the results were quite horrific. Strips of flesh had been torn from Ron's face and his hands were dripping with blood where he had tried to defend himself.

Casually, she cancelled the spell and slowly walked forward until she was just a few feet away from her brother. Ron looked up at her with fear in his eyes.

"This is your last chance, Ron," she told him calmly. "If you mess with me or Harry again, I swear next time I'll keep that Hex on you until it rips your face off!"

"Ginny, how can you say that?" Ron sobbed. "I'm your brother!"

"Really? You certainly don't act like it. In fact, you've been acting like a complete arsehole for months now, and I'm sick of it. I warn you: one more spiteful comment, one more nasty look, one more unwarranted attack, and we are through, brother. Do you understand me?"

"Teachers!" someone yelled from the back of the crowd.

Instantly, the gathered mass of pupils turned and hurried on their way. Ginny felt a hand on her elbow and she looked up to see Harry gently leading her away. She didn't resist, and left a sobbing Ron Weasley on the floor, his mauled hands held out in front of him, blood dripping from his wounds.

As they walked, she felt Harry's arm slip around her shoulder and she leaned her head into him. Part of her was horrified that she could do such a thing to her own brother. Another, larger, part of her was tired of people screwing her around and was glad she had sent a clear message to everyone: don't mess with Ginny Weasley.

The war was starting and no one, absolutely no one, would stand in her way.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Ginny sat in the common room impatiently awaiting Harry's return. He'd gone to be given details of the third task, but had been gone for hours. Ginny was starting to get a bit worried about him.

Sitting across from her, Hermione also looked rather impatient. Although her eyes were glued to the book on her lap, the tapping of her foot in time to some unheard music, and the way she pursed her lips were sure signs that Hermione's patience was wearing thin.

Despite the tension, Ginny couldn't help but smile when she recalled the recent interview the bushy–haired witch had conducted for The Quibbler. Luna had once again conducted the interview in her normal style and had succeeded in sending Hermione to the hospital wing in search of a Headache Potion as soon as it finished. The results were worth it, though. The article made Rita Skeeter look like a gossiping moron. As the piece pointed out, Rita's version of events sounded more suited to a steamy romance soap opera on the wireless, rather than a bunch of thirteen and fourteen-year-old kids. It had done much to quieten the gossiping witches around the castle, thankfully.

Glancing at her watch, Ginny was just starting to think about going out to look for Harry when the portrait hole swung open and the young man in question emerged. With a tired expression on his face, he flung himself down on the sofa next to Ginny.

"That took a long time," Hermione noted sharply, the second he had taken his seat.

"Yeah, well, some strange things happened this evening," Harry explained.

"First things first," Ginny interrupted. "What's the third task going to be?"

"Oh, they've turned the Quidditch pitch into a giant maze. Apparently, the Triwizard Cup will be at the centre of the maze and the champions will race to get to it. Just to make it extra fun, Hagrid will be putting certain 'interesting animals' around the maze. You can just imagine what he'll come up with," Harry sighed.

"We'll have to research as many magical beasts as we can and come up means of subduing them," Hermione suggested.

"Yeah, and we'll just keep on training you in general purpose spells as we don't know exactly what you'll face," Ginny decided. "I think for your physical training you'd better concentrate on running and building up your endurance."

"Fine, why don't you stick a broom up my arse and I'll clean the castle, too," muttered Harry quietly.

"What was that?" Ginny asked.

"Err, nothing. But let me tell you about the weird thing that happened afterwards," Harry said quickly. "Viktor and I had gone down to Hagrid's hut so we could talk in private, and suddenly Barty Crouch comes crashing out of the forest gibbering like a monkey. I mean, he was totally off his head! I left him with Viktor while I went and got the Headmaster, but by the time we got back we found Viktor had been Stunned and there was no sign of Crouch."

"Is Viktor alright?" Hermione asked hurriedly.

"Yeah, he's fine," Harry replied with a small smile on his lips. "But the weird thing is Viktor swears it wasn't Crouch that attacked him. He says he was watching Crouch carefully when he was hit and he was certain it was someone behind him that hit him with the spell."

"That's very worrying," Ginny said frowning. "Crouch has been signed off sick for ages; what's wrong with him and why did he suddenly just turn up here?"

"He's been here loads of times before, remember?" Harry pointed out. "I've seen him on the map in Moody's office a dozen times at least."

"Was Moody around when you found Crouch?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

"No, not straight away," Harry admitted, "but he turned up pretty quickly after I got back with Dumbledore. He said he would help look around."

"Isn't it funny that Moody is the only person who's seen Crouch for ages, and he just happens to turn up just after Crouch vanishes again," Ginny pondered.

"What are you suggesting, Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure," Ginny admitted, "but I'll wager every Knut I own that Moody knows more than he's letting on. Don't forget that we still don't know who put Harry's name in the Goblet."

"You can't suspect Moody!" Hermione protested.

"I suspect everyone who had the means and ability to charm the Goblet and Moody is on that list, right along with Karkaroff and, yes, Dumbledore. I wouldn't put it past our Headmaster to have staged this whole thing as some sort of test for Harry."

Hermione looked at Ginny disapproving, but said nothing.

"One thing I don't understand," Ginny said, turning towards Harry, "was why did you and Krum feel the need to go off and have a private conversation?"

"Ah, well, it seems Viktor was a little concerned about my relationship with Hermione here," Harry said, grinning widely. "Despite what you said to him at the Yule Ball, he was still worried that Miss Granger and I might be more than good friends."

"Oh, really?" Hermione said, her eye's wide with surprise. "I really don't know what to do about Viktor. I really like him, but I'm not sure if I like him in that way, if you know what I mean."

"Well, don't worry about him getting the wrong idea about you and me," Harry assured her. "I set him straight on that account."

"Thank you," Hermione said simply.

"Yeah, I told him all about our passionate affair, but I explained that it's all over now," Harry said in a deadpan voice. "Although I did warn him that you get rough when you're aroused…"

Harry didn't get the chance to say anything further as Hermione had pulled out her wand and sent several nasty Hexes in his direction. In credit to his training, he managed to fling himself to the floor so they missed him. Wisely, he then leapt to his feet and ran as fast as he was able, with Hermione hot on his heels, yelling at the top of her voice exactly what she was going to do to him.

Ginny watched the pair chase around the common room in amusement. Well, she'd suggested Harry do more running, anyway. It was good to see him taking his training so seriously.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"Harry, are you okay?" Ginny asked the dark-haired young man. She had entered the common room to meet him for breakfast only to find him sitting alone on a sofa with his head in his hands, looking pale and tired.

"Oh, morning, Gin," Harry greeted her. "I'm okay, I guess. I just had a bad night."

With the third task now just days away, Harry's training had intensified considerably and Ginny knew that most nights he virtually collapsed from exhaustion as soon as he reached his bed. To find that he had not slept well the previous night was worrying.

"What's the matter?" Ginny persisted. "Did you have a bad dream, or something?"

"Well, yeah, sort of," Harry mumbled. "It was like a dream, except it felt like I was really there, you know?"

"Really where?" she asked, thoroughly confused.

"It was like I was in this horrid, dirty room in this big house I'd never seen before," he explained. "It was weird, because it seemed like I was talking to Wormtail, that's Peter Pettigrew, remember I told you about him?"

"Yeah, I remember," Ginny confirmed. "What on earth were you saying to that bastard?"

"I was sort of threatening him," Harry revealed, "but not because of Sirius or my parents, but because I'd sent him some sort of job to do and he'd made a mess of it. I had this huge snake beside me and I threatened to feed Wormtail to it! But because someone had died or something, I decided not to kill him. I had just started to cast the Cruciatus Curse on him when I woke up. I tell you, Ginny, the whole think really freaked me out."

"I can imagine," Ginny replied in a flat voice.

"But this isn't the first time I've had dreams like this," Harry confided. "Before this term started, I had a dream where I was in this same house, and that big snake attacked an old man. There was another person there, as well, who I didn't recognise and it was like I was giving him orders. It was just like I was in someone else's body, Ginny. The first time it happened I just chalked it up as a strange dream, but now it's happened again I'm not so sure. What do you think?"

"You're a wizard, Harry," Ginny said dismissively. "All wizards and witches have strange dreams. You're just a bit stranger than most, that's all."

"Thanks!" Harry said sarcastically. "But seriously, you don't think this is anything to worry about?"

"No, I don't," Ginny assured him. "You're under a lot of pressure and that's bound to have an effect on you. But if it happens again before the final task you should get some Dreamless Sleep potion from Madam Pomfrey. You need to be well rested, Harry."

"Okay, I might do that," Harry agreed, sounding relieved.

"Good. Look, I've just realised I've forgotten something. Why don't you head down to breakfast and I'll catch up with you?"

"Yeah, okay," Harry said with a smile. "I'll see you down there."

Ginny watched him stand and head out through the portrait hole before she turned and ran up the stairs to her dormitory. She headed straight for the bathroom and entered one of the toilet cubicles, locking it behind her. Only then did she allow herself to fall apart.

As tears started to fall, she bit her lower lip to prevent herself from crying out loud. Of course she knew what Harry's dreams meant, just as she knew what the scar on his forehead really signified. A piece of Voldemort's soul was hidden within him, making Harry a makeshift Horcrux. And if he was having dreams this vivid, it meant that the Dark Lord was nearly ready to return, and they were all in danger.

She hated the fact that she had to conceal this all from Harry. There was simply no way that she could reveal this information without giving away the fact that she had Tom Riddle's memories inside her head. How long would her friendship with Harry last once that little nugget got out? She did have a plan to deal with the Horcrux; it was, after all, an accidentally created one and not very stable. Ginny was convinced she knew of a means to banish that sliver of Voldemort's soul from Harry, but she could not put her plan into action at the moment. The procedure to remove the Horcrux required certain conditions to be met and they were not in place. When it boiled down to it, Harry was just too young for it to occur. He needed more strength and experience; other things needed to happen first.

But it looked like time wasn't on their side. She would wager ever Knut she owned that Voldemort had obtained a partial corporeal form, and was preparing to obtain a human body to inhabit shortly. The fact this appeared to be happening at the same time as the tournament was unlikely to be a coincidence, in her book. By the time Tom had created his first Horcrux in the diary, he had researched all forms of Soul Magic and Necromancy extensively. He had a number of options open to him to return to his body, and none of them were very pleasant. Ginny had a horrid feeling that something was going to happen during the third task and that she may not be able to prevent it.

Wiping her eyes, Ginny stood and unlocked the toilet door. A new-found determination filled her and she had a number of things she needed to do. The first thing that needed to happen was for Harry to write a letter.

She needed a bit of advice and she knew just who to ask for it.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Theodore Nott sank to his knees, an expression of terror on his face. His eyes pleaded with her for mercy.

"You shouldn't have tried to follow me, Nott," Ginny told the frightened boy. "Now you're going to pay!"

"No, please! I was just doing as I was ordered! I didn't mean any harm!" the boy begged.

"Too late for that, Theo," she laughed. "No one crosses me and lives."

And with a casual flick of her wand, Ginny sent Nott hurtling over the handrail. His screams could be heard as he fell to the ground, hundreds of feet below.

"Ginny, you didn't have to do that!" Harry protested. "He'd surrendered. You didn't have to kill him."

"But I wanted to kill him, my love," Ginny crooned. "He tried to defy me and I can't permit that to go unpunished. You should know that, Harry."

"Yes, Ginny, I know," Harry replied meekly. "It's just…"

"Just what?" Ginny interrupted angrily. "Nott was an insignificant little worm who deserved to die! Why are you questioning me?"

"I'm not!" Harry replied hurriedly. "You know I would never disagree with you."

"Really? It didn't sound like it just then," Ginny said coldly. "Perhaps it's time to remind you of your place."

"No! Please, Ginny, I love you! Please don't …" Harry started before he crumpled to the ground in pain.

"_Crucio!_" Ginny shouted again, laughing as Harry contorted in agony at her feet. Her laughter became louder and louder, drowning out Harry's screams. It was the funniest thing she'd ever seen! She laughed so hard she thought she was going to cry…

Ginny awoke with a start.

For a second she stared into the darkness unable to remember where she was. She realised tears where running down her cheeks and she was trembling.

Slowly, clarity returned to her and she realised she was in her bed in the third-year girls' dormitory. The curtains around her bed were pulled closed shutting out all light. A cold clamminess around her suggested her sheets were soaked in sweat.

With an unsteady hand she reached out and pulled the curtain to one side. A grey light leaked in revealing it must be morning. Trying to control her ragged breathing, Ginny flung the bedding aside and swung her legs out of bed. The stone floor was painfully cold on her bare feet. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she stood and padded over to the window. Looking out, the false dawn spread its pale light across the horizon, signalling to Ginny that it wasn't worth trying to get anymore sleep.

Wearily, she returned to her bed and collected her toiletries and a clean towel before heading to the bathroom. A long, hot shower warmed her body, if not her spirits. She found herself staring into the bathroom mirror for some time; her reflection looked drawn and nervous. Her already pale skin looked sallow and lifeless. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to move. Today, Harry would be taking part in the third and final task of Triwizard Tournament, and she was more worried than she cared to admit.

That she and Harry had become extremely close in these last few months could not be denied, but she would never have believed that a murdered Slytherin boy would have been the reason for it, if she'd been told beforehand. No, she forcibly corrected herself, it wasn't murder: it was self-defence. The trouble was that no matter how many times she told herself that, she didn't really believe it. Her guilt triggered her nightmares and she was beginning to feel like she was falling apart. Perhaps when this bloody tournament was finally finished she could start to move forward.

Mixed in with her guilt was her fear for Harry. Something was going to happen today, she just knew it. Too many odd things had happened in recent months to be ignored, and Harry's frequent nightmares where he seemed to inhabit another body were a clear sign as well. Voldemort, or one of his followers, was going to try something today and there was little she could do to stop it.

Not that she and Harry weren't going to take precautions, though. Ginny was determined that she was going to be able to track Harry when he entered the maze later that day and Sirius had come up with an excellent idea how. A couple days previously, he had mailed a pair of small hand mirrors to his godson. These mirrors acted as a two-way communication device and it had been agreed that Harry would activate his just as he entered the maze, allowing Ginny to hear, and partially see, what was going on. Sirius himself had indicated that he would be nearby as well, just to add another set of helpful hands (or paws if he was appearing as Padfoot). In addition, although she didn't intend to tell him, Ginny decided she was going to cast a Tracking Charm on Harry as well. Better safe than sorry.

Ginny returned to the bedroom and dressed in complete silence. Her dorm mates were still fast asleep and the heavy drapes around each bed muffled the sounds of their breathing. Feeling lonely and a little dispirited, Ginny decided to head down to the common room.

She was unsurprised to find Harry already there, sitting on the sofa near the fireplace, staring pensively off into space. Ginny crossed the floor and sat down quietly next to him.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked without moving his head.

"Nope. I'm just too nervous, I guess," she responded.

This time Harry did turn his head to look at her. His piercing green eyes seemed to bore right through her.

"But it's more than just nerves, isn't it?" Harry insisted. "What's wrong, Ginny?"

She gulped and looked away. For a second she considered lying, but in truth she was desperate to share her guilt-ridden dreams with him.

"I keep having these nightmares," she said quietly. "It's always the same; we're up in the Astronomy Tower and… it… happens again. Only this time I throw him off the tower deliberately. I'm enjoying listening to him scream as he falls. And then… oh, sweet Merlin… I… start to torture you, Harry. I cast the Cruciatus Curse on you and I laugh as I hold it on you. I laugh and laugh and laugh. I…"

She got no further as a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her. Harry pulled her head to his shoulder and held her tight against him.

"It's okay, Gin," he whispered. "It's alright to feel bad about this. But never forget, Nott attacked us; we were just defending ourselves. It was an accident; we did nothing wrong. I think your dream is just you facing your real fear: that you might end up not being upset by something like this happening. The very worst thing you can imagine is ending up like Voldemort, someone who can kill and torture for pleasure. But the very fact that you are afraid of that proves you will never be like him. He might have been in your head once, Ginny, but you are still just you. You're a million times better person than he will ever be. You fought him and won, and you always will beat him. Voldemort is just a cruel, empty husk of a person, while you are a kind, loving, wonderful girl with a core of pure steel. He'll never win against you."

Tears started to fall down Ginny's cheeks. She clung to Harry as she wept, her body shaking as she sobbed. Harry just held her, offering his silent comfort to her. After a while, Ginny managed to get control of herself. She pulled away a little so she could look Harry in the face.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" she demanded. "I never told you."

"It's been pretty obvious," Harry explained. "Ever since the tower you've been acting… not afraid exactly, but more cautious. I could tell you haven't been sleeping well, either, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why. Hell, I've been having bad dreams about Nott, too. On top of everything that has been going on, I've just been sort of waiting for it to come to a head. You're not one to bottle up her emotions and I knew it would all come out eventually. I just wanted to make sure I was here for you when it did."

Ginny looked him directly in the eyes. She had never loved him more than she did at that exact moment.

"Thank you, Harry," she said, her voice shaky. "You don't know what it means to me to know you're there for me."

"Yeah, I do," he disagreed, "cos' I know how much it means to know you're there for me. I would never have made it through this term without you, Gin."

Harry leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. He then pulled her close again and they sat there on the sofa, wrapped in each other's arms, not saying a word. It was only when they began to hear movement from the boys' dorms that they reluctantly let each other go.

"Come on, Ginny," Harry said, standing up. "I don't feel like facing anyone just yet. Breakfast will start being served in about half an hour; let's slowly head down there."

Sniffing, Ginny stood and pulled Harry into one last quick hug. "Yeah, we might as well get a head start on the day. Besides, you need to eat well; you're going to be busy later."

"Yeah, don't remind me," Harry agreed mournfully.

With that, the pair of them headed out of the portrait hole, ready for whatever the day may bring.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

They were, unsurprisingly, the first down to breakfast. They took their seats at the Gryffindor table and quietly talked about unimportant things until other early-risers started to filter into the hall. Hermione, as was her habit, was one of the first to arrive and she sat down opposite Harry with a concerned look on her face.

"How are you feeling, Harry," she asked the second she was seated. "Are you nervous?"

"Well, yeah," Harry admitted. "I'd be daft not to be, wouldn't I? But there's no point worrying too much. I'm as well prepared as I think I can be; I've learnt loads of new spells since the start of the tournament and I'm a lot fitter, too."

"Yeah, what happened to that skinny, weedy, little runt who used to wear glasses?" Ginny teased.

"Runt?" Harry objected in a pained voice.

"You were awfully thin, Harry," Hermione pointed out. "You've really started to fill out a lot this year.

"Yeah, well, I guess that's what good food and lots of exercise does for you," Harry agreed mildly. "I could hardly not put on a bit of weight with the amount of food Miss Weasley here has been insisting I eat. I think she's been channelling her mother in that respect."

"Oi!" Ginny protested, punching Harry on the arm. "Don't you know it's rude to compare a girl with her mother?"

"I do now," Harry muttered, rubbing his injured arm.

"Well, really," Ginny continued. "As much as I love my mum, I really wouldn't want to be like her. I mean, she's wonderful in many ways, but she is completely mental! If she had her way, I'd be locked in an ivory tower until I was twenty-five, when I would be permitted to leave only if I agreed to get married immediately and produce my first child exactly nine months after the wedding. Mum seems to think I'm some porcelain doll that needs to be protected. I don't want to just be a wife and a mother; I want to do things with my life!"

"I agree," Hermione said, nodding her head, "although my mother wants me to achieve my full potential and is very supportive. She's always pushed me to be the best I can, and trusts me to make my own decisions. I actually want to be like my mother; she's intelligent, thoughtful, determined and very beautiful. I think she's a wonderful role-model."

"Well, I'd say you were all those things already," Harry chipped in.

Hermione turned to look at him in shock. "Harry, that has to be the nicest thing you've ever said to me," she told him in a stunned voice. "Come to think of it, it has to be the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me."

Harry cheeks flushed and he looked down in embarrassment. "I only said it because it's true," he mumbled.

Ginny regarded him with her eyes shining with moisture. In many ways, Harry was almost unrecognisable from the angry, sullen boy she had befriended at the start of the tournament. As he had said, physically he had changed greatly due to his improved diet, constant exercise and the Nutritional Potion she had been slipping him on a regular basis. As a student, he was different, as well. Harry was applying himself much more and his grades had significantly improved. While he had always had excelled at Defence Against the Dark Arts, he was now becoming extremely gifted in other subjects, particularly Transfiguration and Charms, his core subjects. The additional training they had done together had also equipped him with an impressive repertoire of spells that no fourth year had any business knowing.

However, to Ginny, the biggest change in Harry was to his personality. The events of the year had definitely changed him, particularly the dreadful incident in the Astronomy Tower. Perhaps it was the removal of her brother as a negative influence on him; certainly, Ron could be rather childish and always seemed to insist that everyone around him did what he wanted them to do. Or perhaps it was the fact that he now didn't rely on Hermione to do his thinking for him. It might even simply be that passage of time, but the fact remained that Harry Potter was growing up.

Reaching under the table, Ginny slid her hand into his. He looked up at her in surprise and she smiled at him warmly, trying to convey her approval of his words in a look. He smiled at her shyly in return, before they were interrupted by the arrival of Professor McGonagall.

"Mr Potter, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast," she informed him. "Miss Weasley, your presence has also been requested. I have already informed Professor Snape that you will not be attending Potions class this morning."

"Both of us?" Ginny gasped. "I'm not going to be involved in this task too, am I?"

"No, Miss Weasley," McGonagall said primly. "The champion's families have been invited to attend the third task and this is a chance for them to meet up. You were specifically requested to accompany Mr Potter."

"But the Dursleys don't even know you exist," Harry protested after McGonagall had left. "Besides, I can't see them coming here; they hate everything to do with magic!"

"One way to find out," Hermione said, pointing to the opposite side of the hall where Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum were both making their way towards the chamber. "I've got a History of Magic exam in ten minutes, so I'd better get moving. I'll see you both later."

Bidding their friend goodbye, Harry and Ginny stood and made their way over to the chamber. Ginny was intrigued by the request that she accompany Harry, and had a suspicion as to whom they would find once waiting for them. As they passed through the chamber door, she saw that she was half right.

"Mum! Bill! What are you two doing here," she cried, hurrying forward to hug them both.

"Hello, Ginny darling," Mrs Weasley greeted her daughter, "and hello, Harry. We thought we'd come and support you during the final task. My, but you've grown!"

Releasing Ginny, Mrs Weasley pulled Harry into a crushing hug before kissing both his cheeks. Ginny was pleased to note that Harry didn't flinch as her mother did so. Bill then stepped forward and shook Harry's hand vigorously.

"Charlie wanted to come as well, but he couldn't get the time off," he informed the younger man. "I must say, it's great to be back here. I haven't seen this place for five years."

Ginny noted that Bill's attention seemed to be drawn to the fireplace where Fleur was greeting her family. Interestingly, the beautiful blond girl seemed as distracted by Bill as he was with her.

"It's great to see you both," Harry declared. "When they said the champions' families were here, for a horrible moment I though the Dursleys might have come."

"Humph," Mrs Weasley snorted disapprovingly at the mention of Harry's guardians. "Well, never mind about them. We're here to give you a bit of support and cheer you on during the task. But first, I think we all need to have a little chat."

At this Bill tore his eyes away from Fleur and gestured that the little group should move to the furthest corner of the chamber. Ginny started to have a sinking feeling about why her presence had been requested.

"Now," Mrs Weasley began, "I want to have a chat with you both about the letters I've been receiving this term, not to mention that horrible article by that dreadful Skeeter woman."

"Mrs Weasley," Harry interrupted. "Ginny hasn't been feeding me Love Potions, I can assure you."

Molly Weasley paused for a second and Ginny gasped. "Mum!" she protested. "You didn't seriously believe that I might be doing that!"

"Well, after that article I had a look around the twins' bedroom and I did discover ingredients that could be used to make Love Potions. I know they are involved in all this, too, as I've received letters from them talking about it. And when I received Ron's last letter stating that everything in Rita Skeeter's article was true, I wasn't sure what to believe."

"I can't believe you would have thought I would do such a thing!" Ginny said loudly.

"Come on, Gin," Bill protested gently. "When mum starts getting letters from the twins that are completely serious in tone, you can't blame her for thinking something's wrong."

"I guess not," Ginny admitted reluctantly.

"Besides, we all know how long you've been lusting after young Harry here," Bill added cheekily.

"Bill!" Ginny howled, completely mortified.

"Has she really?" Harry asked in a deadpan voice.

"Oh, yes," Bill replied, matching Harry's tone. "She's besotted by you."

"That's useful to know," Harry noted, his lips twitching with suppressed mirth.

"Right, one more word out of either of you and I'm going to start hexing!" Ginny declared, pulling out her wand.

"Ginny, the boys were just playing with you. Put your wand away," Mrs Weasley said, although Ginny could see the amusement in her eyes.

Muttering to herself about what insensitive prats boys were, Ginny tucked her wand back into her robes.

"Now we've cleared that up," Mrs Weasley continued, "I have another question. What's going on between you two and Ron? Harry, you used to be such good friends with him; what happened?"

"I really don't know, Mrs Weasley," Harry admitted. "It all started when he didn't believe me when I said I didn't enter my name in the tournament."

"But Professor Dumbledore confirmed that you didn't," Mrs Weasley protested.

"I guess Ron doesn't believe the Headmaster either," Harry said sadly.

"It's been coming for a while now, Mum," Ginny interrupted. "You know how insecure Ron can be. He's been jealous of Harry's money and fame for years, and it just needed a trigger to set the whole thing off. Ron's sick of being seen as a sidekick to Harry and I think he's trying to distance himself. All this rubbish about Harry entering the Tournament and this stuff about Love Potions is his way of justifying his actions."

"But I don't see Ron as a sidekick!" Harry protested. "He was the first proper friend I ever had."

"Yeah, but that's not how everyone else sees it," Ginny pointed out, "and I guess Ron valued his reputation amongst others more than his friendship with you."

"But… that's… nuts!" Harry stuttered in disbelief.

"It does kind of make sense," Bill agreed. "In his letters to me he frequently says things like 'if I was Harry I'd do so and so' or 'if I had Harry's money I'd buy this'. I guess his resentment has been bubbling under the surface for a while now. It's a shame."

"I'll talk with him when the holidays start," Mrs Weasley insisted, "or get Arthur to. His behaviour is just plain ridiculous. I'll soon set him straight."

"With respect, Mrs Weasley, I'm not sure I want Ron as a friend just at the moment," Harry said. "If it was just me he'd hurt it would be different, but Ron's been horrible to Ginny and Hermione. Until he apologises to both of them I want nothing to do with him."

"Well, I'm not sure that Granger girl deserves it," Mrs Weasley huffed. "Breaking up with you like that just so she could chase after that Krum boy! Disgraceful behaviour. You're better off staying away from girls like that!"

Harry and Ginny both burst out laughing at that comment, much to Mrs Weasley confusion.

"Oh, Mrs Weasley! Hermione's not my girlfriend and she never has been," Harry grinned. "As for chasing after Viktor; he asked her out. I think she was more surprised than anyone!"

"Don't believe everything you read in the papers, Mum," Ginny giggled. "Hermione must be the most unlikely girl in the world to become a trollop."

"Hermione a trollop!" Harry repeated in delight, before bursting into laughter again.

"Although I think Ron rather liked her," Ginny added more seriously. "Of course, he never had the nerve to do anything about it, and then got all upset when Viktor asked Hermione to the ball. It's just one more thing that's got Ron in a tizzy."

"Well, let's not worry about that now," Mrs Weasley decided. "Bill and I are here for the entire day. It's been ages since I've been to the castle, why don't you two show us what's new?"

Nodding happily, Ginny and Harry lead them out of the chamber and towards the school grounds. They spent the rest of the day exploring Hogwarts and happily chatting away. Ginny was pleased to see the calming effect that having such a relaxing day was having on Harry. The anxiousness that had been building up in him for the last week seemed to just seep out of him and he appeared happy and calm. For that at least, she was grateful. The fact remained that whoever had put Harry's name in the goblet was still out there.

And today was that person's last chance to strike.


	9. Chapter 9 – The Eleventh Hour

**Chapter 9 – The Eleventh Hour**

AN

The third task already? My, this story has flown by.

One thing in canon I never really understood was why Dumbledore was so confrontational with Fudge at the end of GoF. The Minister clearly wasn't going to acknowledge Voldemort's return, so why force the issue? Wouldn't it have been better to keep his mouth shut and prepare in secret? It's not like Dumbledore achieved much by antagonizing Fudge, is it? He only succeeded in making the Ministry openly hostile to him and getting the press to call him a nut-job. Nice work, Dumbles! Fortunately, our little Slytherdore Ginny is smarter than that…

Massive thanks to Arnel for correcting my (many) errors and pointing out my dumb canon mistakes. Oh, the shame!

* * *

Ginny stood nervously near the entrance to the maze. The crowds had gathered and you could taste the excitement in the air. For her part, Ginny just wanted the whole thing to be over and done with. Harry looked like he would agree with that sentiment. He stood next to her, eyeing the spectators with apprehension.

The third task had arrived too soon. They had spent a lovely day exploring the castle with Bill and her mum, and it had lured them all into a false sense of security. Indeed, when the twins had joined the group for lunch the meal had turned into a family reunion, and Ginny had had a wonderful time. She was particularly pleased with how well Harry and Bill seemed to get on and had practically glowed with happiness watching her two favourite boys in the world chatting together amicably.

But before she knew it, the day had passed and the champions were being called to the Quidditch stadium in preparation for the third task. The sense of unease she had been feeling for weeks returned in full force as they made their way down to the pitch. Bill and Mrs Weasley had both wished Harry luck before heading to the stands, while Ginny lingered by Harry's side.

"Have you got your mirror?" she asked him nervously.

"For the third time, yes!" Harry insisted. "As soon as I enter the maze I'll call you so you can hear what's going on."

"Good, don't forget or I'll bloody follow you into the maze to remind you," she joked.

"Don't worry, I've come to rely on you advise," he assured her.

"See, I knew you were quite intelligent really," she said with a grin. "But promise me, Harry, that you won't take any risks. But don't hold back, either. I know you don't feel like you should be part of this competition, but you're in the lead and you deserve to be. Besides, the longer this thing goes on, the more chance someone has to try something. Get in there, find the trophy and get out, fast!"

"Yes, miss," Harry said with a mock salute.

"Don't take the piss out of me!" Ginny snapped. "I'm scared enough as it is. If anything should happen to you, I…" Words failed her and her eyes began to moisten.

"Hey, nothing's going to happen," Harry insisted. "Security around the place is rock tight and after all the training I've had, I think I'm pretty capable of looking after myself. It's going to be alright. Besides, I can't let anything happen to me until we've had that end of term talk we discussed."

Ginny forced a smile onto her face. "Yeah, you try and wiggle out of that and I'll kill you myself," she grinned. "But please don't get complacent. And don't let your desire to rescue everybody take over; look after yourself and no one else, got that?"

"Yes," Harry agreed reluctantly.

"Can the champions please make their way to the start line," Ludo Bagman's voice called out.

Ginny gasped and threw her arms around Harry, hugging him tightly. He returned the gesture and held her to him. Ginny was sure the many wolf-whistles she heard were directed at them, but she didn't care.

"Please be safe, Harry," she whispered to him.

"I'll try," he said, before pulling away and heading towards the starting point.

Despite the tears in her eyes, Ginny remembered the other precaution she had decided to take. Surreptitiously pulling her wand from her robes, she cast a Tracking Charm at Harry's back. She could now place Harry's exact location to just a few feet, allowing her to track his movements accurately.

Seeing Harry line up with the other champions, Ginny turned and hurried away. If she was going to follow his progress via the mirrors, she needed to be somewhere quiet and secluded. She ran past the spectator's stand and back towards the castle. As soon as she reached the edge of the lake, she turned right and found a nice, out-of-the-way spot to settle down. She pulled out her mirror and waited for Harry to activate it.

She didn't have long to wait before she felt the mirror vibrate. She activated it from her end and she was greeted by the sight of Harry's face, bobbing up and down as he ran.

"We're off," he commented. "I've got a minute's head start over the others."

"Well, don't waste it," Ginny scolded him. "Put the mirror in your top pocket and get a move on."

She thought she heard him laugh as her view titled crazily and eventually began to settle down. Harry had slid the mirror into the breast pocket of his robes, which was only deep enough to accommodate about half the mirror's length. Ginny could, therefore, partially see what was ahead of Harry as well as hear him perfectly. The only things she could hear at present, however, was his breathing as he ran.

"I would have thought I would have run into something by now," Harry commented after about five minutes.

"Me, too," Ginny agreed, "and that makes me nervous. Keep your eyes and ears open."

"Wait!" Harry exclaimed. "What's that? It's… I don't believe it! A Dementor?"

"They wouldn't use a real Dementor in the Tournament," Ginny disagreed. "A Boggart! It must be a Boggart."

Harry didn't reply but she heard him call out 'Riddikulus!' before pressing on. One problem dealt with, Ginny thought happily. A second later another problem presented itself.

"Ginny," Harry called. "The way ahead if filled with a kind of golden mist. I've no idea what it does."

"Me, neither," she admitted. "It can't be anything too dangerous. Try sticking your foot into it carefully."

A second later the view from the mirror twisted unexpectedly and she heard Harry cry out.

"Harry!" she called in a panic. "What's happened?"

"I'm bloody upside down!" he yelled. "Buggering-shit! The mirror's fallen out of my pocket!"

Sure enough, Ginny's view spiralled for a second before everything went dark. She assumed the mirror must be lying face down on the ground. Frantically, she called out to Harry, but she couldn't hear anything.

Nearly a minute later, the mirror flared with light and she was suddenly looking at a grinning Harry's face.

"I'm not sure what the mist was," he admitted. "It just flipped me upside-down. I was able just to walk out of it, though. I had to Summon the mirror to me."

"Great, but don't dilly-dally," she urged him. "Get moving!"

Harry slipped the mirror back into his pocket without comment. Judging by the way her view was bouncing up and down, Ginny guessed that Harry had taken her advice and was running forward as fast as he could. A second later, the movement came to an abrupt halt and Ginny caught a glimpse of something large, pink and revolting.

"A Blast-Ended Skrewt!" Harry cursed. "I'm going to bloody kill Hagrid next time I see him."

"Remember the tactics for tackling one of them," Ginny urged. "Go for the underbelly!"

A few seconds Ginny heard a quick Levitation Charm being cast before it was rapidly followed by a Blasting Curse. She then heard what she suspected might have been the sound of someone throwing up.

"Oh, bugger me!" she heard Harry wail. "Trust me, Ginny. You do not ever want to see the insides of one of those things. And I thought it was ugly before!"

"Keep moving!" Ginny yelled.

Harry obeyed her command and started running again. So far they had seen no sign of the other contestants and Ginny assumed Harry's head start must have been sufficient for him to leave the others trailing in his dust. The Point Me spell Harry was using was also proving effective and Ginny hoped he must nearly be at the centre of the maze. Unfortunately, another obstacle lay in Harry's way.

"It's a sphinx," Harry declared, sounding a little awed.

"Riddles!" Ginny declared. "Sphinxes are known for asking riddles. I bet that's what you have to do."

Ginny was proved correct when she heard the sphinx inform Harry that she would ask him three riddles. Answer them all and he would be able to pass, get one wrong and she would attack, or remain silent and he could walk away. Harry told the sphinx to ask her first question.

"What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?" the sphinx asked.

"Easy!" Harry piped up. "A river."

"Very good," the sphinx congratulated him. "Try this one: the person who makes it, sells it. The person who buys it never uses it and the person who uses it doesn't know they are. What is it?"

"Umm, any idea, Ginny?" Harry muttered.

"Let me think, I'm normally quite good at these," Ginny pondered. "Why would the person using something not know they were doing so? Unless they had something wrong with them, maybe? Or… or they were dead! Harry, the answer is a coffin!"

Harry relayed the answer and received confirmation that it was correct. The sphinx then asked her final riddle.

"If you break me, I do not stop working. If you touch me, I may be snared. If you lose me, nothing will matter. What am I?"

Ginny knew the answer instantly. "Your heart."

"Quite correct," the sphinx confirmed after Harry repeated the answer. "You may pass unhindered."

"Thank you," she heard Harry respond and could only smile at his perfect manners.

A few seconds later she heard Harry's triumphant cry. "I can see the trophy, Ginny! A few more steps and I'll have it."

"Great!" she replied, relief washing over her. "Just grab the bloody thing and get out of there."

"Okay, I've got…" Harry started to say before his voice was cut off sharply. The image in the mirror became a blurry mess and Ginny felt the Tracking Charm on Harry take a sudden lurch.

Ginny gasped in horror. A Portkey! The trap that she had feared all along had just been sprung and Harry had fallen right into it. Hell, she'd urged him to grab the bloody cup! Within seconds, Ginny was on her feet and running as fast as she could towards Hogwarts' Main Gates. Fortunately, her spot by the lake meant she wasn't too far away, but even so she cursed every lost second.

She was panting heavily by the time she reached the mercifully open gates. Without pausing, she sprinted passed them before coming to an abrupt halt. Her mirror was showing nothing, but she was sure she could hear faint voices through it. She suspected it had been broken when the Portkey had deposited Harry wherever he was. She checked the Tracking Charm and was dismayed to realise Harry had been moved hundreds of miles away. Taking a deep breath, Ginny turned slightly on the spot and Apparated to the location the Tracking Charm indicated Harry was.

Ginny had never tried to Apparate before in her life, but Tom had been extremely proficient. Armed with his knowledge and memories, it never occurred to Ginny that she would be unable to do it. Fortunately, her confidence proved well founded and she arrived with a soft pop.

At first, she could see very little. She had arrived in what appeared to be a large, dark field filled with rocks. On closer inspection, she realised that the rocks were actually gravestones and she was in a cemetery. Looking around, her eyes were drawn to what appeared to be a camp fire about twenty yards to her left. Ginny pulled out her wand and made her way cautiously towards the light. Once she was close, she ducked down behind a conveniently sited gravestone and peered round.

"B-blood of the enemy… forcibly taken… you will… resurrect your foe," a voice called out.

Ginny gasped. In front of her, she could see a small, dirty-looking man who appeared to be clutching his right arm to himself in pain. The man staggered towards a large, ornate headstone with a statue of an angel above it. Ginny caught a flash of something metallic in the firelight and to her horror she realised that the small man was holding a knife in his left hand. From her position she couldn't really see what he was doing, so she decided to cast a Disillusionment Spell on herself so she could move out from behind cover.

Suitably hidden from sight, she stepped out from behind the gravestone she'd been hiding behind and gasped in horror. In the faint light she could just make out a figure tied to the headstone: Harry! Before she could react, the small man swung the knife and cut Harry on his arm. She saw Harry's body stiffen, but strangely she didn't hear a peep out of him. He'd probably either been Silenced or gagged, she assumed. The small man fumbled with something which he held to Harry's arm, before he turned and staggered back to the fire.

Hurrying forward, Ginny wracked her brains trying to figure out what was happening. It was only when she saw the small man upend a phial or small bottle into a cauldron which sat upon the fire did things start to make sense. A Resurrection Ritual! Buried in Tom's memories was extensive research he had done on the subject, part of his quest to achieve his ultimate goal: immortality. Although Ginny was unfamiliar with this particular ritual, its purpose seemed clear enough. The fact that Harry's blood had been used was ominous; the ritual had to be stopped immediately!

"_Stupefy!_" Ginny cried, aiming her wand at the small man who crumpled in a heap instantly.

_"Confrigo!" _she cried, this time aiming at the cauldron. The Blasting Curse hit the metal pot squarely and shattered it to pieces. Boiling potion gushed everywhere and generated great clouds of steam as it made contact with the fire, which was partially doused.

In the remaining light, Ginny could just make out something crawling from the shattered cauldron. The thing was small, around the size of a baby, and was covered in ragged, red flesh. The thing pulled itself forward a few feet before it twitched and emitted a dreadful, high-pitched screech. With a final shudder, the deformed creature was still.

Giving the cauldron a wide berth, Ginny ran to the headstone. Harry was still bound tightly to the stone and his right sleeve had been ripped away, exposing a cut which was dripping blood down his arm. He appeared to have a rag stuffed in his mouth which Ginny removed.

"Ginny!" Harry gasped. "How did you get here?"

"I Apparated, of course," she replied irritably. "Now, hold still while I cut these ropes."

Using a Cutting Charm, Ginny soon freed him, although she did have to grab him quickly to prevent him falling on his face.

"Not that I'm not pleased to see you, Gin, but how did you know where I was?" Harry persisted. "And come to think of it, when did you learn how to Apparate?"

"I cast a Tracking Charm on you just before you entered the maze," she admitted calmly. "As for Apparating; that was my first attempt. Quick learner, aren't I?"

"I'll say," Harry agreed before limping forward to examine the fallen man.

"Who's he?" Ginny enquired.

"Peter Pettigrew," Harry replied. "This is the bloke that sold out my parents to Voldemort and framed Sirius. He was hiding posing as Scabbers, remember?"

"This is THAT bloke?" Ginny exclaimed. "But this is great! We can take him back and get Sirius cleared of the charges against him. Sirius will be free!"

"Bloody hell, yeah!" Harry gasped, catching on. "Sirius will be a free man! I'll be able to go and live with him. I'll never have to see the bloody Dursleys again!"

"Okay, but we have to be smart about this," Ginny insisted. "And what are we going to do with that?" she asked, pointing to the body that had crawled out of the cauldron.

"I think they were trying to bring him back, Ginny," Harry said nervously, "I think they were trying to bring back… Voldemort."

"Yeah, I think so, too," Ginny agreed. "And by using your blood they would have invalidated all the protections your mum put on you. This was a bloody close thing, Harry. If he'd gotten his body back he would probably have killed you on the spot. We nearly lost everything because of this stupid Tournament."

"Why the hell did Dumbledore allow the bloody thing to go ahead?" Harry moaned. "There must have been some way of getting me out of it."

Ginny pondered the matter for a moment. "You know what, Harry? I think Dumbledore wanted this to happen. Isn't it strange that you seem to end up confronting Voldemort in one form or another ever year? Maybe Voldemort can't be killed in the spirit form he is in now. That's why Dumbledore allowed this to happen. So Voldemort gets a body and he can be defeated."

"That's all well and good, I suppose, but it wouldn't have been too jolly for me, would it?" Harry spat. "If you hadn't arrived, I would have been sacrificed just so Voldemort could become human again."

"Hmm, I'm not sure if Dumbledore meant for this to happen exactly this way. I get the feeling he has these clever plans which get away from him some times. I very much doubt he meant for you to die here," Ginny said. "Wherever here is."

"I think it's wherever Tom Riddle grew up," Harry said. "Look at the name on the headstone I was tied to."

Ginny moved over and examined the stone. There, clearly chiselled into the stone, was the name Tom Riddle. She looked up at Harry in surprise. She immediately guessed the location of the place but kept her mouth shut. There was no way she should know this place was Little Hangleton.

"Wormtail said something about 'bone of the father' during the ritual," Harry explained. "I think this grave belongs to Voldemort's dad."

"Then we destroy it before we leave," Ginny decided after a second. "We make sure that there is no way this ritual can ever be attempted again. Oh, and we burn that ugly bloody thing, too."

Harry stared at the deformed lump lying by the fire. "Yeah, good plan. Then what do we do?"

"Is your mirror still working?" she asked.

"It got cracked when the Portkey set me down. It was a bloody hard landing; no wonder Wormtail was able to stun me so easily. I think we can still talk through it, but we can't see anything," Harry told her.

"That will do," Ginny confirmed. "First, we tidy up here. You look like you could do with a few Healing Charms. Once you're sorted, we destroy all trace of Tom Riddle Senior so no one can try this stunt again. We burn Voldemort's remains and hide any evidence of what happened here. Then, I Apparate back to Hogwarts. I'll call you on the mirror when I'm in place and you can then use the Portkey to return yourself, taking Pettigrew with you. You tell everyone that he tried to kidnap you, but you managed to overcome him. Make sure you cast a Mind Fortress spell on yourself if Dumbledore starts asking questions."

"Do we say nothing about Voldemort?" Harry questioned. "We need to warn people that he's trying to return."

"No one will believe you, Harry," Ginny disagreed. "Most people would crap themselves at the thought of the return of the Dark Lord, so they'll just try to deny it. Besides, we have no proof. Why don't you just say Pettigrew appeared to be starting to perform some sort of ritual before you escaped? That's just about the truth anyway, and people can then make up their own minds."

"Okay, that's what we'll do," Harry agreed, before an expression of distaste came onto his face. "So, what do you want to take care of? Grave robbing or corpse burning?"

"I'll take the grave robbing," Ginny decided. "I'd much rather deal with a pile of dried, old bones than that thing."

"Thanks," Harry muttered, before retrieving his wand from Wormtail's fallen body and marching over to the fire.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

A quarter of an hour later and Ginny was making her way back to the spectator's stands. Both Riddles' remains had been dealt with, and she had successfully Apparated back to Hogwarts. As she drew level with the stands she pulled out the cracked mirror.

"I'm back, Harry. Everybody is still milling around looking lost. You're safe to come back now," she whispered.

"Okay, I'm grabbing the Trophy now," Harry's voice replied. "See you in a second."

Just as Ginny was approaching the Judging position a flash of light indicated Harry's arrival. A gasp went up from the surrounding crowd and a mass of bodies started to hurry over to where Harry had landed.

"Get back! Everyone back!" Ginny heard McGonagall's voice yell forcefully.

"Would everyone please return to the castle immediately!" Dumbledore added, a note of command in his tone.

Of course, most people didn't move a muscle until the teachers started shepherding them away. Ginny calmly ignored everyone until she was a few yards away from where Harry was standing over an inert body. She then put on an expression of panicky relief and ran forward the last few feet.

"Harry!" she cried. "You're alright! I was so worried; you were gone so long."

"I'm okay, Ginny," Harry replied, pulling her into a hug. "Someone just tried to kidnap me, that's all."

"What?" she screeched in mock horror.

"Indeed, Miss Weasley, Harry was just about to explain what had happened," Dumbledore said.

Ginny looked around and saw that the crowd had thinned considerably and now only a handful of people surrounded them. In addition to Dumbledore, Professors McGonagall and Moody, Minister Fudge and her own dear bother Percy were standing looking expectantly at Harry.

"Firstly, can someone make sure this person is secure and can't get away," Harry said, poking the body on the ground with his foot. "Be careful, he's an Animagus and can change into a rat."

"Who is he?" Fudge demanded, just as Harry turned the body over.

"Sweet Merlin, it's Peter Pettigrew!" McGonagall exclaimed. "But he's dead!"

"Obviously not, Professor," Harry disagreed. "Pettigrew kidnapped me and tried to use my blood in some sort of a ritual. Luckily, I managed to escape before he completed it and succeeded in overpowering him."

"But it can't be Pettigrew!" Fudge protested.

"It is, Minister," Harry disagreed. "I recognise him from the family photos I have."

"Right, we'll need to take him in for questioning," Moody declared. "You get yourself cleaned up, Potter, and I'll take care of this maggot."

"I don't think so," Harry disagreed. "Tell me, Moody; why were you meeting up with Barty Crouch so often this term?"

"What are you talking about, Potter?" Moody growled, "I haven't talked to Crouch since the start of this Tournament."

"That's what I thought," Harry replied. _"Stupefy!"_

Harry had carefully removed his wand while he'd been talking to Moody, using Ginny as cover. The red spell shot from his wand and hit Moody squarely in the chest. The battered old Auror dropped to the ground like a stone.

"What is going on?" shrieked Fudge, staring at Harry like he was going to attack them all.

"Something has been off about Professor Moody all term," Harry insisted. "I don't think it's a good idea to leave Pettigrew in his care."

Frowning, Dumbledore knelt by the side of the fallen man and examined him. After a second, he withdrew the hipflask that Moody always carried with him and opened it. Taking a sniff of the contents, a look of shock appeared on the Headmaster's face.

"This is Polyjuice Potion," Dumbledore declared. "This isn't Alastor Moody! Harry, how did you know?"

"Quite a few things seemed off about him. When he said he'd last met with Barty Crouch at the start of the Tournament, I knew he was lying. There were other things, too. Moody always seemed to be around when something odd happened, and he was one of the few people who could have entered my name in the competition in the first place. Besides, who was responsible for the security of the Triwizard Cup?"

"Moody," Dumbledore answered uneasily. "Well, it doesn't look like we'll have long to wait until we find out who this impostor is. Perhaps we should all relocate to my office to continue this. Minerva, would you be so kind as to locate Severus and ask him to bring us some Veritaserum? Perhaps then you and Filius could mount a search of Moody's office; I suspect the real Alastor must be close by to provide samples for the Polyjuice."

"Right away, Headmaster," McGonagall agreed before hurrying off.

The group all decamped to Dumbledore's office as suggested. Ginny managed to include herself in the group by the simple method of tucking herself under Harry's arm, giving the impression that he was struggling to walk and that she was giving him aid.

When the group arrived at the entrance to the office, Professor Snape was already waiting for them. He sneered at Harry before his eyes went wide at the sight of Peter Pettigrew who was being levitated by Percy. He then looked even more confused when he noticed Moody being transported in a similar fashion by Dumbledore.

The group made their way upstairs and the two miscreants were tied securely to their chairs. Dumbledore also raised an Anti-Animagus Charm over the room, preventing Pettigrew from changing. They were just about to revive Pettigrew to commence the interrogation when the door flew open and the real Alastor Moody entered wearing a brown-checked dressing gown and an expression that could kill from thirty paces.

"Where is the bastard?" Moody growled. "I'll bloody wring his scrawny little neck!"

"Alastor," Dumbledore said warmly. "Good to see you, as it were. Where were you being held?"

"He was locked in the bottom draw of his own truck," Flitwick jumped in earning him a scowl from Moody.

"Really? How long were you in there for, Alastor?" Dumbledore asked.

"Since before the start of term," Moody grumbled. "I haven't stepped out of that bloody truck since August."

"That explains the smell," Harry whispered in Ginny's ear forcing her to clamp her hand over her mouth to stop from giggling.

"But who did this?" Fudge demanded. He'd been looking increasingly bewildered since Harry had arrived back.

"Well, let's… ah! I see the Polyjuice is beginning to wear off. Let's see for ourselves who has been creating all this havoc, shall we?" Dumbledore suggested.

The group gathered round as the man's face began to blur and morph. A few seconds later, rather than Moody's double they found themselves staring at a pale-faced young man with straw coloured hair and a hint of freckles across his nose.

"I don't believe it!" Fudge gasped.

"Believe it!" Moody snapped. "Barty Crouch, Jr! Although how he got out of Azkaban's graveyard is a mystery to me."

"I think we had better revive him and a few questions are in order, don't you agree Cornelius?" Dumbledore pressed.

"What? Oh, yes, I suppose," the Minister mumbled.

Crouch was awakened and the Veritaserum was administered. The man looked around him with pure hatred in his eyes.

"What is your name?" Dumbledore began.

"Barty Crouch, Jr," the man replied.

"How did you escape from Azkaban?" Dumbledore asked.

"By use of Polyjuice. My mother was old and sick and couldn't bare the idea of me being imprisoned. A plan was agreed where during a visit I swapped places with her using the Polyjuice. She remained behind as she knew she didn't have long to live. In the end, she only lasted a day before she died. It's her body that lies in the grave bearing my name. Father escorted me out of prison, but then tried to lock me up at home with only a house-elf for company!"

"Winky!" Harry cried. "The elf that nicked my wand at the World Cup! That was your elf, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Crouch confirmed. "She helped me by stealing your wand so I could finally escape my idiot father. Of course, when I saw that ridiculous group of cretins pretending to be Death Eaters I had to do something. I cast the Dark Mark and laughed as they all nearly wet themselves in fear. Fools! They would never be worthy to serve my master in a million years!"

"And who is your master?" Dumbledore enquired.

"The Dark Lord himself, of course: Lord Voldemort!"

"But he's dead!" Fudge protested.

"You idiot! He is merely waiting to return and when he does you shall all bow before him! That's what this whole stupid Tournament was about; capturing Potter and using his blood so we can resurrect my master."

"Sorry that didn't go too well," Harry said defiantly.

Crouch sneered. "Your presence must mean we failed then. No doubt that moron Pettigrew screwed everything up. I begged my master not to trust him with anything important. But no matter; he will return and when he does he will rip out your still beating heart from your chest and crush it before your eyes, Potter!"

"But this is ridiculous!" Fudge spluttered. "You-Know-Who is long gone; everybody knows that! Crouch must have gone mad and imagined he saw him; that's the only explanation for all this."

"Why don't we see what Pettigrew has to say?" Dumbledore suggested. "But one final question for Crouch. What happened to your father, Barty?"

"He's dead and his body is long gone! I've been issuing orders to that gullible idiot of an assistant of his by owl for months now. Do what you like with me, but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing a killed my pathetic father!"

"I see," Dumbledore said solemnly. "I think it's Pettigrew's turn to answer some questions."

They revived the small man and in contrast to Crouch's defiant stares, Pettigrew was positively cringing.

"What is your name?" began Dumbledore after the Veritaserum was administered.

"Peter Pettigrew."

"What can you tell us about the events leading up the deaths of James and Lily Potter, and the arrest of Sirius Black?"

"I betrayed James and Lily, not Sirius. Sirius suggested at the last minute that I should become the Secret-Keeper of the house at Godric's Hollow as he was too obvious a choice. I couldn't believe it! I'd been a spy for the Dark Lord for months at that point, and he had been pressuring me to find out where the Potters had been hiding. And they just handed the address to me. Priceless! I led my master to the house and there he killed James and Lily. I was sorry about Lily because she was always nice to me. He then tried to kill Harry but something went wrong and my lord was struck down. I ran, but two days later Sirius caught up with me. I accused him loudly of being the traitor before blasting a gas line that ran under the street and causing that explosion which killed all those Muggles, not that they were much of a loss. I then cut off my finger so people would assume I'd been caught in the blast, turned into my rat form, and scurried away."

"Where have you been since then?" Dumbledore asked.

"For a long time I stayed in my rat form posing as the pet of a Wizarding family called the Weasleys. It gave me a chance to keep tabs on what was happening and await any sign of my master returning…"

"Scabbers?" Percy interrupted in horror.

"Oh, look, its little Percy," Pettigrew grinned. "Still masturbating using those dirty magazines when everybody thinks you're studying?"

"What?" Percy screeched. "I never! I…"

"Perhaps we could get back on topic?" Dumbledore asked mildly. "Peter, why did you leave the Weasleys?"

"I was discovered," Peter explained. "Somehow, Sirius worked out where I was and came after me. I was young Ron's pet by then and he had brought me here to Hogwarts. Sirius tried to capture me and eventually enlisted the help of Remus Lupin and then Harry and his friends, as well. He would have got me, too, if Severus there hadn't blundered into the middle of things and let me escape."

All eyes turned on Snape who only sneered defiantly.

"Realising I wasn't safe in Britain anymore, I decided to leave and hunt down a rumoured sighting of the Dark Lord. And I found him! Me, the least of all his followers and I was the one to find him in a dark forest in Albania. When some English witch recognised me in an inn outside Tirana I captured her and learnt of the Triwizard Tournament. My master and I then hatched a plan to capture young Harry and use his blood to provide my lord with a body. I still don't know why it didn't work. I guess Harry must have somehow got loose when I wasn't looking and Stunned me."

"I don't believe a word of this!" Fudge roared. "This is all some sort of trick to discredit me! Well, it won't work."

"Cornelius, I'm afraid we must face the truth; Voldemort did not die and is looking to return," Dumbledore said gravely.

"Rubbish!" Fudge bellowed. "I see through your little game, Dumbledore. This is all part of a plan to make me more reliant on you, isn't it? I wouldn't be surprised if you're not trying to oust me from power so you can take my place! Well, I'm not falling for it."

"The general population must be warned so they can prepare against Voldemort's return," Dumbledore insisted.

"Stop saying that name!" Fudge screeched. "This is all poppycock. You-Know-Who is not coming back and I'm not going to stand here and listen to this nonsense."

"Then it appears we face a parting of the ways, Cornelius," Dumbledore said in a stern voice.

"So be it!" Fudge roared. "And you can forget anything this pair of madmen said. I'll be sending a Dementor to administer the Kiss immediately. Frankly, I think it's the kindest thing for them!"

"But what about Sirius!" Harry shouted.

"He'll get Kissed too when we find him," Fudge growled and stomped out of the office. A second later a startled Percy hurried after him.

Ginny looked at Harry's sickened face and realised she had to do something. As much as she hated to admit it, Fudge would only back down if he was offered something in return. She leaned over and quickly whispered in Harry's ear.

"Go after Fudge, Harry," she urged, "offer to make a deal with him."

Harry looked at Ginny in shock for a second before his expression hardened. He leapt up and headed for the door.

"Back in a second," he yelled before anyone could stop him. A second later Ginny was following him down the spiral staircase.

They ran down the corridor after the Minister, who had covered a surprising amount of distance in such a short time.

"Minister! Minister, please wait!" Harry yelled as he ran.

Fudge turned at Harry's shout and stopped. His angry expression didn't bode well. Percy, for his part, looked outraged that they would have even dared approach the Minister for Magic.

"What do you want, Potter?" Fudge growled. "I'm not interested in listening to your fairy tales."

"Minister, I'd like to make a deal," Harry declared, still breathing hard from the running.

Ginny happened to be looking right at the Minister when Harry spoke and she could see the man's whole demeanour change instantly. This was obviously the sort of thing Fudge expected when dealing with people. He was the Minister for Magic and could make things happen, but you had to make it worth his while.

"Really, Mr Potter? What sort of deal are you talking about?" Fudge asked in a calculating voice.

Movement caught Ginny's eye and she noticed one of the portraits hanging on the wall suddenly sit up and start paying attention. She pulled at Harry's sleeve and pointed towards the offending painting.

"Umm, maybe we should discuss this outside," Harry suggested.

Fudge also noticed the portrait's apparent interest in the conversation. "Perhaps that would be a good idea," he agreed.

The four of them made their way down the staircase and into the Entrance Hall. Out of the corner of her eye Ginny could see her brother giving her disapproving stares, but she guessed he daren't say anything in front of the Minister.

Eventually, they reached the front doors. They passed through them and made their way outside. Once they had walked a suitable distance from the castle, they halted and Fudge turned and looked expectantly at Harry.

"Minister, I want to make some sort of deal so my godfather gets a fair trial," Harry blurted.

"Hmm, I'm not sure about that Mr Potter," Fudge replied, shaking his head. "Black's guilt is obvious for all to see. I hardly think that the word of a couple of madmen could possibly be justification for opening up an investigation. The general public trust the Ministry to protect them from criminals; I couldn't risk undermining their faith in us."

"Excuse me, Minister, but I think you're looking at this from the wrong angle," Ginny leapt in. "Surely if you uncovered a grave injustice, like someone being wrongly imprisoned without a trial, the public would respect you more."

"Yes, but who imprisoned Black in the first place? No, the Ministry must remain above reproach," Fudge insisted.

"But it wasn't you that ordered Black thrown in prison, was it?" Ginny pressed. "Surely that happened during Millicent Bagnold's term of office. You could hardly be blamed for something that happened under her orders, could you? Besides, wasn't it Barty Crouch that actually threw Black into Azkaban without a trial? The fact that his Death Eater son is alive and sitting in Dumbledore's office as we speak proves the man was corrupt. Minister, just think how the public would react if it learnt that you, Cornelius Fudge, had uncovered the misdeeds of your predecessors! Through your dynamic leadership an innocent man was pardoned and the guilty brought to justice. Why, you'd be a hero!"

"I'd vote for someone who did all that!" Harry exclaimed, getting into the spirit of things.

"It certainly wouldn't do my reputation any harm," pondered Fudge. "But, no. I can't risk Crouch and Pettigrew going to trial. I'll not have this nonsense about Voldemort returning spreading."

"But you said it yourself, sir," Ginny said. "They believed they were trying to resurrect Voldemort. They certainly didn't succeed and there's no evidence that they ever could have. The important thing is the crimes these two committed, not whatever warped motive they had. Besides, I'm sure a skilled prosecutor would be able to phrase their questions in such a way that their ultimate goal wasn't discussed."

"Possibly," Fudge waivered, "but what about Dumbledore and for that matter Potter here? What are you going to say?"

"Well, I can't speak for the Headmaster," Harry said carefully, "but I'm more than happy to go on record as saying that when I left that graveyard I saw no sign of Voldemort and that I'm convinced that he doesn't walk amongst us."

Fudge looked thoughtfully at Harry, clearly pondering his unusual wording.

"More than that," Harry added, "if Sirius Black is freed then I'd be more than happy to give an interview to the papers saying how impressed I was by your handling of the whole affair."

A small smile of triumph appeared on Fudge's face.

"Alright, Mr Potter, I think you have a deal. I'll arrange for Crouch and Pettigrew to be put on trial and if they repeat their story to the Wizengamot, I'm sure I can arrange a pardon for Sirius Black," Crouch agreed. "In turn, I want you to publically state that You-Know-Who has not returned, despite anything Albus Dumbledore might say, and that you endorse my leadership. Deal?"

"Deal," Harry agreed.

"Excellent! Inform Dumbledore that I will be sending Aurors to take those two reprobates into custody forthwith." Fudge began to walk away but just before he did, he glanced back at Ginny. "And may I ask who you are young lady?"

"That is my young sister Ginevra, Minister," Percy said before Ginny had a chance to speak.

"Your sister, eh?" Fudge noted. "It would appear that politics runs in the family. I look forward to seeing you take a position in the Ministry in the future, young lady."

"Thank you, Minister," Ginny replied with a grin.

Percy and the Minister then turned and started to walk away. They hadn't gone too far when they were interrupted by a shout.

"Hey, Percy," Harry called out. "Have you still got any of those magazines that Pettigrew mentioned that I could borrow?"

Percy swivelled on the spot and glared at Harry, but didn't say anything. Possible the presence of his boss chortling beside him stayed his tongue. Instead, he turned and rapidly walked away with his shoulders rigid. He'd just passed out of sight when Harry and Ginny both burst out laughing.

"Harry, that was priceless!" Ginny said between giggles.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," Harry laughed. "I was just thinking of all those times when I was at the Burrow when Percy was too busy to come out of his room. Now we know what he was busy doing!"

"Ugh! I don't even want to think about that," Ginny complained, pulling a revolted face. "It's just as well he got a girlfriend in the end, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, he might still be locked up in his room 'working'," Harry snorted, before they both started howling with laughter again. It was sometime before they got themselves back under control.

"I always did think he was a bit of a wanker," Ginny added, setting them both off again. Harry literally dropped to his knees shaking with laughter. Ginny dropped down next to him and they continued laughing for a few minutes. Eventually, their giggles subsided and they became quiet.

"Did we do the right thing, Gin?" Harry asked after a while. "I mean, I feel like I've just sold my soul to the devil."

"It had to be done if Sirius was to be pardoned," Ginny insisted. "What's more important than that?"

"But like Dumbledore said, we need to warn people that Voldemort will be coming back," Harry pointed out.

"Do we?" Ginny challenged. "What will they do if they are told? I'll tell you: nothing. Unless Voldemort pops up and taps them in the shoulder they'll do just like Fudge wanted to do; pretend nothing's happening. They'll close their eyes to what's in front of them and carry on like everything is normal."

"I guess you're right," Harry said sadly. "But then again, you're always right."

"Glad you finally realised it," Ginny said smiling. "Come on, we'd better get back to Dumbledore's office. They'll think Fudge kidnapped us."

They stood and headed back to the school. After a few steps, Harry reached out and took Ginny's hand in his. Together, they made their way back to the Headmaster's to explain what had transpired.


	10. Chapter 10 – Fragile Dreams

**Chapter 10 – Fragile Dreams**

AN

The final chapter! Can I just say how pleased I am how well received this story has been and to thank everyone who left a review. Cheers all.

I suspect there will be much debate around my take of why Snape has been allowed to act in such an unprofessional manner at Hogwarts. I'm sure everyone will have their own ideas but this explanation does neatly fit in with my portrayal in this story of Dumbledore as being a well-meaning but ultimately deeply flawed character. Still, I will be interested to hear everyone's views on the matter.

Currently, I envisage this will be the first part of a trilogy, although I reserve the right to change that idea. As I type this, two chapters of the sequel have been completed and I have a rough plot outline worked out, so hopefully it won't take me too long to complete.

As usual, can I express my deepest appreciation to Arnel for all her hard work throughout the story. Hey, I got through a whole chapter without capitalizing 'common room' once! Who-hoo! Shame about all my other cock-ups, mind…

* * *

Harry and Ginny hurried back to the Headmaster's office, conscious of how long they had been gone. Fortunately, the entrance was still open so they could make their way back upstairs unhindered.

They burst into the office without knocking. Little had changed since they left, other than Professor McGonagall had joined the meeting and was sitting in a high backed chair glaring at the still bound form of Peter Pettigrew. Both Wormtail and Crouch were slumped in their chairs apparently unconscious.

"Ah, Harry and Ginevra, I was starting to get worried about the pair of you," Dumbledore said as soon as he noticed them.

"We saw the Minister out of the school," Harry explained. "What happened to those two?"

"Merely Stunned, Harry," Dumbledore assured him. "We felt it would be unwise to let them partake of our discussion. May I ask what happened with Cornelius?"

"We managed to persuade him to put these two on trial," Harry said in an excited voice. "Aurors will be here shortly to take them into custody."

"Really? That is most surprising news," Dumbledore exclaimed. "I thought that Cornelius was adamant that Voldemort was gone for good."

"Yes, I think he probably still thinks that," Harry said carefully.

"Then why did he agree to put these two on trial?" Dumbledore demanded.

"I think he kind of got the idea that he'll look good in the eyes of the public if he's seen to be righting the wrongs of the previous Minister," Ginny interrupted. "He thinks it will generate a lot of good publicity."

"Does he now?" Dumbledore said disapprovingly. "And I suppose the two of you did something to encourage this attitude? I'm very disappointed in you both, especially you, Harry. You of all people should know the importance of warning the Wizarding community of Voldemort's imminent return."

Harry looked angry. "Imminent return? Things are no different than they were before. You didn't feel the need to warn everyone after Voldemort possessed Quirrell, so why now? It would be different if he actually managed to get his body back, but he didn't. Besides, by letting Fudge have his moment of glory we allow Sirius to have a fair trial. What's more important than that?"

"Fair trial?" sneered Snape. "What makes you think Black deserves a fair trial? The man is a dangerous reprobate. From what little I saw of him, he's become even more unhinged of late."

"Sirius is innocent!" Harry yelled in outrage. "You heard it with your own ears! Hell, the fact that Pettigrew is here at all is proof he didn't betray my parents. Do you seriously want an innocent man to rot in Azkaban?"

"Innocent? There's nothing innocent about Black," Snape growled. "And as for Azkaban; no, I don't think he should rot there. It's too good for him! A worthless piece of excrement like him should be given a Dementors' Kiss. It's exactly what he deserves!"

Harry gasped and his hand flew towards his wand, which was tucked inside his robes. Fortunately, Ginny realised what he was going to do in the nick of time and grabbed his arm.

"No, Harry!" she begged. "Don't do it, he was deliberately trying to antagonise you. He wants you to attack him so he will have an excuse to get you expelled. It's just the sort of petty, vindictive thing that he'd do."

"How dare you, Weasley!" Snape snapped. "A month's worth of detentions for insulting a Professor!"

"What, for telling the truth?" Harry demanded. "And she's right; trying to goad me into attacking you just so you'd have the opportunity to punish me is exactly the sort of thing you'd do! You just can't see past my face, can you? Just because I look like my dad you hate me. From the very second I stepped into Hogwarts you've been on my case. You never once stopped to find out if I'm anything like my dad, did you? You just assumed I was some spoilt, pampered brat who got everything he wished for. Did you ever stop to ask yourself why I was so skinny, or why I arrived wearing clothes that were like oversized rags? Did you? Have you ever seen me throwing my weight around or ordering people about like your pet Draco does? Tell me, Professor, just what have I done to annoy you so much?"

"You exist, Potter," Snape said in a voice dripping with malice, "that's enough to annoy me!"

For a second Harry looked stunned, before he turned to the Headmaster. "Why do you let him act this way, sir?" Harry demanded. "No other teachers would be allowed to do this, why him? I mean, it's not like it's just me he abuses, either. He shows blatantly favouritism towards his own House, is totally horrid to all the other Houses, Gryffindor especially, and punishes people for no good reason."

"And it's not like he's even a good teacher," Ginny added, keen to back Harry up. "All he ever does is write the instructions on the blackboard and tells everyone to get on with it. He doesn't explain anything or provide any help. He just ridicules anyone who doesn't understand or makes a mistake. That's not teaching: that's bullying!"

Snape looked like he was going to explode at this point, but Dumbledore held up a calming hand to him. With a sad smile, he turned back to Harry and Ginny.

"I'm afraid it's necessary for Professor Snape to act in the manner he does, regrettable though it is," he explained. "You see, once Voldemort returns it will be vital for us to have a spy in his inner circle. To do that Severus must convince Voldemort that he remains loyal to him and his ideas. By acting in such a discriminative manner Professor Snape is demonstrating his support to the goals that the Dark Lord holds dear, and thus will ease his entry back into Voldemort's trust. While it is unpleasant for those not in Slytherin, the benefits as a whole far outweigh the negatives."

Ginny frowned. Something didn't seem right about that argument.

"Err, Headmaster, surely the fact that Professor Snape works for you means that Voldemort would never trust him again, doesn't it?" she asked.

"No, not at all," Dumbledore replied with a kind smile. "You see, we have carefully planted the idea that Severus approached me only to gain the opportunity to spy on me. Voldemort and his followers will believe that Severus has successfully pulled the wool over my eyes and that he secretly remains loyal to the Dark side. They have no idea that he is really a double agent."

"Okay," Ginny said carefully, thinking the whole thing through logically. "So, Voldemort's gang think that Snape has convinced you that he has gone over to the side of Light, while all the while remaining loyal to the Dark Lord, right?"

"Yes, so you see why it is important for him to remain in character, yes?" Dumbledore asked.

"Err, no, actually. In fact, I think that's the last thing he should be doing," Ginny protested.

"What do you mean?" the Headmaster asked, frowning.

"Professor Snape has 'apparently' convinced you that he is now on the side of Light, right? Well, if he's done that, why would he still be acting like a Death Eater?" Ginny demanded. "If he's supposed to be playing the role of a spy here at Hogwarts, surely he should be doing everything he could to fit in and convince you that he'd rejected his old ways. Voldemort would know that you'd never tolerate prejudice and bigotry, or just plain meanness. Surely he's going to wonder why you're letting him get away with acting like that."

"The Dark Lord would wish me to act in that manner, you stupid girl," Snape spat. "One does not ignore his wishes lightly."

"He might wish you to act like that, certainly," Ginny disagreed, "but expect it? Hell, no. He would expect you to be doing everything in your power to maintain your cover and not arouse Professor Dumbledore's suspicion that you haven't really changed."

"And Voldemort's suspicious of everyone," Harry chipped in. "Tell me, Professor Snape, if Voldemort was here now and he asked you why Dumbledore allowed you to act the way you have been doing, what would you say to him?"

"I would say that the Headmaster is a very forgiving person and has allowed me a certain latitude," Snape replied, although he sounded far from convincing.

"Really?" Ginny snorted in disbelief. "You really think that he'd believe that the great Albus Dumbledore, leader of the Light and beacon of all that is good, would allow you to berate and punish all those you don't like because you apparently turned your back on the Death Eaters? Pull the other one, sir, it's got bells on it!"

"Voldemort's bound to ask questions," Harry pressed. "I mean, he's going to be suspicious of you anyway, but he's bound to want to know why you're allowed to act differently from every other teacher in the school. That kind of behaviour is going to stick out like a sore thumb."

Ginny noticed that Dumbledore was strangely silent, but that his normally twinkling eyes seemed a little dulled than usual.

"Albus?" Professor McGonagall stood and approached the Headmaster's desk. "You have assured me for years that there was a good and justifiable reason why Severus was permitted to ride roughshod over three quarters of the population of this school. Are you telling me that this misguided and misbegotten excuse is the reason for permitting his appalling attitude and derisory teaching methods?"

"Minerva," Dumbledore began, "I assure you…"

"You assure me of nothing!" McGonagall snapped. "For years I have respected and trusted you, but it seems that ever since Harry Potter came into your life your thinking has become more and more suspect. First, you dump him with those appalling Muggles and when he turns up at this school looking like a street urchin, you justify it by assuring me his safety was the most important thing. You then assured me that it was necessary to hide the Philosophers Stone here, in a school, and we all saw how well that worked out! You assured me that Hogwarts didn't need to close when the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and that all the pupils were safe. Both Mr Potter and Miss Weasley nearly died down there, not to mention the poor pupils who had to suffer being Petrified. You assured me that the Dementors that Minister Fudge placed around the school were under control, yet on at least two occasions they entered the school grounds without permission and attacked pupils here! And finally, you assured me that holding the Triwizard Tournament here would be safe, and that no one would be at risk."

McGonagall paused to gather her breath before she continued her tirade against the Headmaster.

"Let me tell you something, Albus. Before the second task, Mr Potter confronted me about Miss Weasley's safety and the security of the whole competition. Against my better judgement I assured him that there was no risk. I do not appreciate being turned into a liar! A convicted Death Eater was here under our noses all the time. If he so wanted, he could have struck at any time and we would have been totally unprepared. And you let him into this school, Albus! You gave him the means and opportunity. You will forgive me if I take your assurances with a pinch of salt from now on!"

The Headmaster sat stone-faced throughout the tongue-lashing, and he made no effort to defend himself.

"This is ridiculous," Snape interrupted rudely. "If you think for one moment I'm going to lower myself to grovelling to a bunch of moronic children you are sadly mistaken!"

"I think the young lass has the right idea," Moody said suddenly. He'd been leaning against a wall largely unnoticed. "Voldemort hates Dumbledore because of his 'Muggle-loving ways'. He would totally expect Albus to protect half-bloods and Muggleborns in his school. By letting Snape here act like he was still in the ranks of the Death Eaters you're just going to raise Voldemort's suspicions."

"Thank you, Alastor," McGonagall said triumphantly. "And since your previous behaviour seems to have put you at risk, Severus, we had better do something to correct that. As deputy head, staff discipline is my responsibility and I have ignored it for far too long. From this moment you can consider yourself on probation. If I find any evidence of continued bias against other houses or abuse of pupils you will be sacked. Is that clear?"

"WHAT?" Snape raged. "How dare you!"

"Come on, Severus, it's perfect!" Moody cackled. "When you next see your buddy Lucius Malfoy you can moan about how badly treated you are just because you tell the Mudbloods what you think of them. Old Lucy will lap it up!"

"Headmaster, I demand that you end this farce," Snape yelled, spinning towards Dumbledore.

Albus continued to sit behind his desk with a sorrowful expression on his face. He appeared to be thinking the matter through and looked troubled.

"Severus," he said eventually, "I believe there is merit to what Miss Weasley says. Previously, I was so keen for you to appear loyal to your former master that I did not completely think through what his reaction to your behaviour would be. No matter what else he is, Voldemort is not a fool and he would certainly become suspicious if you continued to act like you are above the rules of the school. No, I think it best for everyone if you moderate your behaviour from now on."

Snape didn't say anything in response. Instead, he stormed out of the room with his robes billowing behind him.

"Oh, I miss him already," sniggered Moody. Harry and Ginny both ginned openly at the scarred Auror.

"A wise decision, Albus," McGonagall said sternly, "and frankly one you should have taken a long time ago. I hope this has reminded you of a valuable lesson; you are not infallible and you need to share information more. For years you've been telling me it was necessary for Severus to act in that manner while refusing to say why. In future, if I disagree with any decision you take regarding the running of the school, I will expect a full justification from you as to why you have made the choice you have. I will no longer just roll over for you, Albus."

Dumbledore said nothing, but slowly nodded his agreement. McGonagall then turned to Harry.

"Mr Potter, I once again owe you an apology," she said firmly. "You were entirely correct in doubting the safety of the Tournament and, once again, I ignored you. I should have learnt my lesson in your first year, but I'm afraid I'm an old witch who is stuck in her ways. I'm sorry, Harry, and I will endeavour not to make the same mistake again in the future."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said warmly. "I know you were only doing your job and following orders. If you at least promise to give me a fair hearing should anything happen like this again in future, then all is forgiven."

"Thank you, Harry," McGonagall said with a rare smile. "I promise I will do so."

"Aurors on the way up the stairs," Moody suddenly reported, his newly restored magical eye spinning like crazy. "Ah, one of them is Shacklebolt; good."

A few seconds later there was a knock on the door and four men in Auror's robes entered.

"Good day, Aurors Shacklebolt and Dawlish," Dumbledore greeted the two senior Aurors. "No doubt you are here to collect our two visitors here."

"Sweet Merlin! The Minister was right; that is Barty Crouch Junior," exclaimed Dawlish in surprise.

"And the other one is Peter Pettigrew," continued Shacklebolt. "Two dead men who have apparently made a full recovery. Incredible."

"Please be aware that Pettigrew is a rat Animagus and take the appropriate security measures," Dumbledore warned them.

"Err, right," Dawlish muttered, even more surprised. "Right, you two! Restrain the prisoners and transport them out to the front gate."

"Yes, sir!" echoed the two junior Aurors who immediately set to work.

"Ah, Mr Potter, I'm glad you're here," Shacklebolt said as he noticed Harry. "I'm to request your presence at the Ministry tomorrow so you can give a full statement. You'll also be required to give evidence at the trial of these two, which we are hoping should be arranged in the next couple of days."

"Just tell me when you want me," Harry confirmed, "I'll be there."

"Good lad," Shacklebolt said with a smile. "We'll need you to report to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement by nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Is that okay?"

"I will escort Harry there personally," Dumbledore piped up.

"Excellent. Well, we've got what we came for, so I'll wish you all a good evening," Shacklebolt said warmly and with a casual wave of his hand he was gone.

"Headmaster, since I'll need to be up fairly early and I haven't had anything to eat since lunch, do you mind if Ginny and I go?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I'd quite lost track of the time," Dumbledore exclaimed. "Of course you two can go. Harry, if you can report here by eight tomorrow we'll make our way to the Ministry then."

"Thanks, sir," Harry responded. "I'll be here."

After saying their farewells, Harry and Ginny descended the spiral staircase and entered the corridor. They had no sooner done so, then Ginny found herself pulled into an enthusiastic hug.

"You were brilliant, Gin!" Harry exclaimed. "Not only is there a really good chance Sirius will be cleared, but you actually got the Headmaster to reign in Snape! You're a bloody genius."

"It was no big deal, Harry," Ginny muttered, enjoying the hug.

"Bollocks was it," Harry disagreed. He pulled away from her slightly and looked her in the eyes. "You've been unbelievable today. You've saved my life, and probably Sirius's, as well. I can't tell you how much this means to me."

"Well, you saved my life," Ginny argued. "I'm just returning the… mmm!"

Ginny didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as Harry had leaned in and planted a kiss firmly on her lips. It wasn't a long kiss, or particularly passionate, but Ginny felt herself melting in Harry's arms. Then, all too soon, it was over.

"I don't know about you," Harry said with a huge smile on his face, "but I'm starving. Fancy a trip to the kitchen to see what the elves can rustle up for us?"

Ginny sighed. She'd been hoping Harry would continue to show his gratitude as she definitely approved of his manner of doing so.

"Okay, I guess I'm hungry, too. But don't forget, buster, that you and I are going to have a little chat about our relationship soon!"

"Oh, I haven't forgotten," Harry assured her with a grin. "Let's get the trials of Pettigrew and Crouch out the way, and I promise we will sit down and talk."

And with that, Harry slid his arm around her shoulders and they made their way towards the school kitchens.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Several days later, Ginny was sitting alone in the Gryffindor common room. It was late and everyone else had gone to bed. Ginny, however, was determined to wait for Harry to return.

The last few days had been hectic, and Ginny had hardly seen anything of Harry. He'd spent most of his time answering questions at the Ministry and today had been attending the trials of Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch. Ginny was keeping her fingers crossed that Fudge would keep his word and the two Death Eaters would receive a proper trial. If that happened surely Sirius would be cleared, wouldn't he?

It was past midnight when Ginny woke to the sound of the portrait hole opening. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and cursing herself for falling asleep in the first place, she looked eagerly over at the entrance way to see who had come in. Sure enough, a second later a weary-looking Harry Potter strode in. He smiled as soon as he caught sight of her.

"Ginny!" he exclaimed. "You didn't have to wait up for me. You must be knackered."

"So must you," she retorted. "But I just couldn't wait until morning to find out what happened. How did it go?"

"Pretty bloody great, actually," Harry grinned. "Both Crouch and Pettigrew were found guilty: Crouch was sentenced to the Dementors Kiss because he was an Azkaban escapee and Pettigrew got life. I hope he rots there, personally."

"What about Sirius?" Ginny demanded.

"Well, they'll still have to be a Court Hearing after he turns himself in, but he's provisionally been cleared of the charges against him!" Harry said happily. "He's free, Ginny, free!"

"Brilliant!" she cried and leapt up to hug him. She was only slightly surprised when he wrapped his arms around her tightly and pulled her close.

"We did have a bit of a close call, though," Harry whispered in her ear.

"What? What do you mean?" she demanded.

"Well, the Prosecutor was questioning Crouch under Veritaserum and he asked him about his activities at Hogwarts. It turns out Crouch recruited several Slytherin pupils to act as spies for him round the castle. One of the boys he recruited was Theodore Nott," Harry explained grimly.

Ginny felt her insides go cold. "What did Barty Crouch have to say about Nott's disappearance?"

"We got lucky," Harry told her. "I don't think Crouch actually told Nott to follow us; he must have done it off his own back. Anyway, I got the impression that there was bad blood between Nott's father and Barty Crouch because when Theo vanished Crouch assumed he'd chickened out of helping him and run away. He made some comment about the boy being just like his useless father, and that he should have never picked him to help. We were never mentioned at all."

"Thank Merlin!" Ginny gasped.

"It does make me feel a bit better about what happened, too," he continued. "I mean, Nott was helping a Death Eater to spy on us. I'd put money on the idea that Nott didn't know exactly what Crouch was planning and assumed he was just going to try to kill me at some point. I bet dear Theo thought he'd grab the glory by trying to finish us off himself."

"Yeah, you could be right," Ginny acknowledged. "He was trying to follow in his father's footsteps, I guess."

"Damn right," Harry agreed. "I never did like the bloke, even if he wasn't exactly part of Malfoy's gang. Actually, the other two kids that Crouch recruited, a pair of seventh years I'd never heard of, had no connection to Malfoy, either. I don't think Crouch wanted the Malfoy family to get any of the credit for bringing Voldemort back."

"A bit of division in the enemies' ranks is always a good thing," Ginny noted. "So, what happens about Sirius now?"

"I've already sent Hedwig with a message for him, and he's bound to see the headlines in the newspapers tomorrow," Harry grimaced slightly. "I really had to suck up to Fudge in the press interviews after the trial, but I guess it was worth it. Anyway, once he turns himself in the hearing should just be a formality. I mentioned in the note that I sent that I expect Sirius to keep his promise that he made to me about coming and living with him. He's my legal guardian and I want to stay with him, and I don't give a fig what Dumbledore thinks."

"Fantastic," Ginny exclaimed, practically bouncing on the spot with excitement. "I was so worried about what would happen to you this summer. I have to admit that with Ron still being a git I didn't think you'd be able to come to the Burrow. But if Sirius is free you won't have to worry about those crappy Muggles ever again."

"Well, that depends," Harry said hesitantly. "We've only got a couple of days until school breaks up and I doubt everything will be sorted by then. I might have to go back to the Dursleys for a week or so, but hopefully no more than that."

"Even that's too long," Ginny said passionately.

"Tell me about it," Harry agreed. "Anyway, it's really late and I'm about to fall asleep on my feet here. Let's go to bed."

"Harry," Ginny began, "when are we going to have out little chat?"

"Tomorrow," Harry said firmly. "The Durmstrang and Beauxbaton pupils are leaving tomorrow morning. As soon as they're gone we'll find a nice quiet spot and talk, okay?"

"Okay," Ginny agreed, before giving him one final hug and heading up to her dormitory.

She couldn't decide if she was excited or terrified about what the morning might bring.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Ginny watched as the twelve mighty Abraxans leapt into the air, dragging the huge Beauxbaton carriage behind them. They'd already said their goodbyes to Fleur, who had earlier in the day managed to corner Ginny and quiz her about her brother Bill for a good half an hour. Judging by the number of questions Bill had asked about the French girl earlier in the week, she assumed there was definitely a bit of mutual attraction going on, although she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that. Fleur seemed a bit stuck-up and flighty for Bill. Besides, Fleur's younger sister kept making eyes at Harry, and there was no way in hell she was going to stand for that.

"Look, Durmstrang's ship is leaving!" someone cried, causing everyone to turn their attention to the lake.

Sure enough, the strange, ghostly ship that the Durmstrang contingent had arrived in was slowly submerging into the water of the lake, leaving a long trail of bubbles in its wake. Victor's farewell had been necessarily brief, as he'd been hidden away with Hermione most of the morning. Hermione had refused to say where they had been or clarify what her relationship was with the famous Bulgarian Quidditch star. She did, however, look rather happy and had a rosy glow in her cheeks.

As the Durmstrang ship finally disappeared and the assembled crowd began to disperse, Ginny turned to Harry.

"So…" she said meaningfully.

"Come on," Harry said nervously. "Let's go to our training room. We can talk in private there."

Ginny followed him as they headed back into the school. He was completely silent during the trip and seemed to radiate anxiety. She tried not to guess what his behaviour meant; she'd long since realised that he had the unfailing ability to completely surprise her and had given up trying to second-guess him ages ago.

Soon, they reached the third floor classroom and Harry unlocked the door. They silently entered and stood looking at each other for a moment.

"I know this…" Ginny began but Harry cut her off.

"Ginny, please, can you let me speak first? I've been giving this moment a lot of thought and there are a lot of things I want to say to you," he said. His eyes were almost pleading with her for agreement.

"Okay, I guess," she responded, desperately trying to control the butterflies in her stomach.

"Firstly, I want to thank you for everything," he began, "This term you've been utterly wonderful, Gin. You stood by me when no one else would, you've spent hours helping me train and supporting me and you even managed to save my life in the graveyard. From the bottom of my heart, thank you."

Ginny smiled. "Harry, it really wasn't…" she started to say but Harry raised a hand to silence her.

"Now, I know we've talked about becoming more than friends, and I suspect that most of the school think we are anyway, but I do have some issues," he continued.

Ginny bit her bottom lip and tried not to show any emotion.

"I guess my main concern was your safety," he explained. "Becoming close to me instantly means you become a target for Voldemort's supporters. Yeah, I know that you're already a target and that you're family are well known blood traitors, but this is different. It would mean that you suddenly become target number two, right after me; maybe even target number one so they could use you to get to me. But lately I've realised that there's no point worrying about that too much. For a start, the damage is already done; even if I decided never to speak to you again the all of Slytherin House have seen us together and know I would never stand back and let you get hurt. You've already been marked by being close to me. The graveyard changed my mind, too. Let's face it, Ginny, you are one formidable witch. If anyone can look after themselves, it's you."

A warm glow filled Ginny's heart at Harry's words. She'd always wanted to be treated as an equal and Harry was acknowledging her capabilities. He was also starting to realise that pushing her away would be pointless.

"Another more selfish reason for us not getting together was the fact that I wouldn't get to go to the Burrow in the summer, although after spending the day with your mum before the third task I'm not so sure that would have been an issue. She sort of hinted that she liked the idea of us being together and that she trusted me. But even so, that's just not an issue anymore. Once Sirius has managed to get a place to live sorted, I won't have to face the Dursleys anymore, and you played a massive part in arranging that. Again, thank you."

Ginny began to feel excited; all of the reasons she suspected Harry would use to keep them apart had been dismissed. She knew he liked her; what other reason could he have for them not to be together?

"When I was planning what to say to you today, I did a lot of thinking," Harry continued, his face a stony mask. "I don't often get the chance to choose what I want, you know. All my life things have just happened, with me having no control over them. Dumbledore has certainly had a big hand in that, but the biggest factor has always been Voldemort. It's funny… he and I do seem to share a lot in common: we're both orphans who grew up unloved and we've both had Dumbledore messing with our lives. Not that I think I'm in any way like him, thank Merlin, but we share the same sort of upbringing. Riddle has been such a huge part of my life that he's left a mark on me. Oh, I don't just mean the stupid scar, but he's been responsible for how I've grown up. He's actually part of me in many ways, what with the visions and my Parselmouth abilities. He's left a lot of himself in me."

Suddenly, Harry turned and looked her straight in the eyes.

"So, tell me, Ginny. What exactly did Tom Riddle leave in you?"

Ginny gasped. How the hell had he figured it out? For a second she thought about denying everything, but quickly realised that would be pointless. Now she thought about it, it was no surprise that Harry had realised that Tom had left some of his abilities inside her. She'd been virtually tutoring him since the start of term and, if nothing else, her actions in the graveyard at Little Hangleton would have clued him in. Suddenly being able to Apparate on her first attempt? Possessing detailed knowledge of Resurrection Rituals? Being able to take down an experienced Death Eater without drawing breath? She might as well of just hung a sign around her neck.

Tears began to fall down her cheeks before she could stop them. Harry knew about the darkness inside her and now he'd want nothing to do with her. He hated Voldemort with good reason and he was bound to feel the same about someone who shared the bastard's memories and abilities.

"I'm sorry…" she spluttered, but couldn't force any other words out. Her life had just come crashing down around her ears.

"Was it because of what happened in the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked calmly.

Ginny could only nod.

"So, is he still inside your head or is it just inherited his abilities?" Harry pressed.

"Just… the memories," she managed to gasp between sobs. "I can… remember… everything he could up to… making the… diary."

Ginny suddenly felt a soft touch on her cheek and she looked up. Harry was standing right in front of her and was gently wiping away her tears with his finger. She looked up at him in confusion.

"Harry, what do you…" she began, but was stopped by Harry pressing his lips to hers.

She froze; her brain desperately trying to work out what this meant exactly. A second later, he slowly pulled away from her and favoured her with a warm smile.

"I guess we have something else in common, then," he told her softly. "We've both been left something by Riddle. I can speak to snakes and you can remember everything he did up to making the diary. I suppose that mean we share something that nobody else in the world does. If that's not a sign we should be together, I don't know what is."

"You mean… you still want to be with me?" Ginny gasped.

"Yeah, more than ever," Harry said. "I don't care whose memories you have locked up in that pretty head of yours. I may have been touched by evil, but I like to think that I don't act anything like Riddle, and neither do you. You act like Ginny Weasley, and as far as I'm concerned that's a pretty wonderful thing."

Ginny's heart soared with joy for a second, before a sobering thought occurred to her.

"Harry," she began tentatively, "I've been keeping secrets from you. I know things about you. That scar of yours; there's more to it than meets the eye."

"Ginny, let's not do this right now," Harry said. "This information; do you have a good reason for not telling me about it before?"

"Yes, I guess I do," she admitted. "It's just…"

"Then let's not worry about it at the moment," Harry interrupted. "I think I understand why you've kept things from me and I don't think this makes you like Dumbledore. Everything you've done seems to be for my benefit and I think that's the major difference. Hopefully, we'll be able to spend a lot of time together over the holidays and you can explain everything to me then. Right now we have something more important to take care of."

"What?" Ginny asked in confusion.

"This," Harry said, and pressed his lips to hers again. This time, Ginny didn't hold back and threw her arms around his neck. It was a very long time before they came up for air.

"Wow, that was bloody brilliant!" Harry exclaimed. "I've been waiting months to do that."

"Was it worth the wait?" Ginny teased.

"Absolutely, although for a snog it was a bit short, don't you think?" he said grinning seductively.

"Damn right," she snapped. "I've been waiting a lot longer than you to do that, and I want my money's worth!"

"Oh, I didn't realised I got paid to do this as well," he sniggered.

"Shut up and kiss me, Potter," Ginny growled and he complied with her wishes.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It was a good two hours later that a dishevelled pair of Gryffindors made their way back to the common room. Before they arrived, however, they ran into a familiar pair of faces.

"Ho-ho, brother-mine, what do I see here?" George said gleefully. "Is this our darling sister holding hands with the hero of the hour?"

"I believe it is, my handsome sibling," Fred agreed. "And I note that they both look a bit flushed. Not to mention their clothing seems a bit awry. What do you think the two of them could possibly have been up to?"

"I'm not sure," George said peering at the pair of them mischievously, "but I think we may have to have a little chat to Mr Potter here. I wouldn't want him to think he could take advantage of our beauteous sister just because she fancies the pants off him."

"No, indeed," Fred agreed. "We might need to set a few boundaries for the conquering champion here."

"Shut it, you pair of morons!" Ginny spat, but she was surprised when Harry placed a calming hand on her arm.

"I'm glad that I ran into you two," Harry said steadily. "I've been looking for you."

"Oh, really?" Fred said with an amused smirk. "It looks like you've been occupied doing other things rather than hunting for us. Or did you think that you'd find us inside Ginny's blouse?"

"Fred…" Ginny began again, but Harry cut her off.

"No, I've been trying to speak with you all morning. The thing is, when I was at the Ministry yesterday, Fudge held a surprise victory ceremony for me and handed me the prize money for winning the Triwizard Tournament." Harry paused and drew a moneybag from out of his robes. "There's one thousand Gallons in here."

"Bloody hell, Harry," George gasped. "You shouldn't be carrying around such a large amount of money like that! Anything could happen to it."

"Well, I have to carry it around if I'm going to hand it to you two, don't I?" Harry smirked.

"WHAT!" the twins shouted in harmony.

"I don't want this money," Harry informed them. "I shouldn't have been in the Tournament in the first place, and I have no need of this money, anyway. You two, on the other hand, have been ripped off by Ludo Bagman and urgently need the cash. You do still want to open that joke shop, don't you?"

"Of course we do!" Fred exclaimed. "But we can't just take your money. A thousand Gallons; I've never even seen that much cash in one place!"

"We can't accept that much off you, Harry," George agreed. "I mean, thanks for thinking of us, but it's just too much."

"Well, don't think of it as a gift," Ginny leapt in. She hadn't known Harry had planned this but she wasn't surprised. "Think of it as an investment. Make Harry a partner in your future business and you can start paying him back when you begin to make a profit."

"Ginny, I don't want anything back for this," Harry protested.

"Hush, Harry," she scolded him. "We Weasleys are a proud family and we don't take charity from anyone, not even you. However, I do think that it's a wonderful thing that you want to invest in Fred and George's future enterprise. That will be a massive help to them."

Fred and George exchanged a hungry look between them. "So, what do you think is fair, Fred?" George asked his brother eventually.

"Three-way split in ownership?" Fred suggested.

"That sounds fair to me," George agreed. "What do you think, Mr Potter?"

"What? No! It was meant to be a gift," Harry protested. "And besides, a third would be way too much!"

"Give Harry a thirty per cent holding as a silent partner," Ginny suggested. "That way you two maintain day to day control."

"It's a deal!" Fred cried in joy, snatching the moneybag out of Harry's hands.

"You won't regret this, Harry," George said, grabbing his hand and shaking it vigorously. "We're going to make you a wealthy man!"

And with that, the twins turned and hurried away from Harry and Ginny. Clearly, her brothers had plans they needed to take care of urgently.

"I'm already wealthy," Harry protested lamely as he watched them vanish.

"Oh, cheer up, Harry," Ginny told him. "Not only have you just made the twins' dreams come true, you've also neatly avoided the whole 'behave yourself with our sister or else' speech."

"Yeah, I wasn't looking forward to that," Harry admitted.

"And just think, Harry, as they haven't had that little talk with you, you haven't had any boundaries been set, as they put it," Ginny whispered in his ear. "And I'm feeling VERY grateful for you helping my family out."

"Oh, that's… great!" Harry squeaked, turning bright red.

Ginny giggled. "But that will have to wait until later. Come on, Harry, let's get back to the common room."

They continued their interrupted journey and soon arrived back at the portrait of the Fat Lady. The first person they encountered as they entered was of course Hermione.

"Where have you two been?" she asked. "Have you been training again?"

"Nah, were taking a break from that," Ginny answered with a smirk. "We've been snogging, actually."

"What?" Hermione exclaimed in surprise. She looked at them appraisingly as if she was trying to decide if they were serious or not.

"Come on, Hermione," Harry protested. "It's not like it's much of a surprise that we're together, is it? Most of the school have assumed we've been off in a broom cupboard somewhere, anyway."

"Yes, but I knew differently, didn't I?" Hermione pointed out. "So, you two are actually a couple now, are you?"

"Yes," Ginny confirmed, "and don't start lecturing us about what we've been doing all this time or we might start asking about what you and Victor were up to all morning."

"We were not snogging!" Hermione protested. "Well, not for much of the time, anyway."

"Hermione Granger!" Harry exclaimed in mock outrage. "Have you been leading that poor international Quidditch star astray with your wicked ways?"

"Oh, ha, ha," Hermione retorted. "If you must know, we were saying good-bye to each other. We both agree that it would be impossible to maintain a relationship with us so far apart. The age difference doesn't help, either. It's his last year at school and next year he'll probably be playing Quidditch professionally. It would look a bit odd if he had a schoolgirl girlfriend, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Hermione," Ginny sympathised. "That's really rotten."

"Perhaps it's for the best," Hermione noted. "I mean, Victor's very handsome and sweet, but he's not what I would call intellectual. I don't think we have that much in common."

"Yeah, but Victor was certainly better than some boys you could have ended up with," Ginny said pointedly.

Hermione grimaced. "If you are referring to your brother, then don't worry; I'm completely over him. It there's one thing my time with Victor has done it's opened my eyes a little. While I've shared a lot of adventures with Ron, I don't think I have anything in common with him either, really. I've realised that there has to be more than just basic attraction; for a relationship to really work there has to be a shared bond, something that binds the two people together. I really don't think I had anything like that with him."

Harry and Ginny glanced at each other at hearing Hermione's words.

"Don't worry, Hermione," Harry reassured her. "We're only fourteen years old. There's plenty of time for you to find the love of your life."

"And when you do, hopefully he won't eat with his mouth open," Ginny added.

Hermione giggled softly before becoming serious. "I know. It's just with the two of you becoming so close I feel a bit left out. Don't get me wrong, I think you're perfect for each other, but I can't help but feel a bit jealous. I don't want to be a spare wheel, but I don't want to be on my own, either."

Harry sat down next to Hermione on the couch she was sitting on and slipped an arm round her shoulders.

"Hermione, no matter what, you'll always be my best friend, you know that? I'm sorry I haven't spent much time with you this year, but with the Tournament and everything things have been a bit crazy. I promise I'll spend more time with you next term," Harry assured her before adding, "apart from when I'm snogging Ginny, of course."

"Thanks, I have no real desire to watch you two tickling each other's tonsils, you know," she muttered.

Ginny smiled. Hermione's abandonment of Harry at the start of term had apparently been forgiven and she was pleased. Despite the girl's rather bossy attitude at times, she'd seen how Hermione's estrangement from Harry had hurt her boyfriend. She was glad the two of them had patched things up.

"Well, I've still got some packing to do before tomorrow, so I'm going to take care of that," Ginny announced. "Meet you back down here for dinner at five?"

"Err, yes," Harry agreed. "Actually, I've still got a bit of packing to finish off. I'd better crack on with it. I'll see both of you later."

And with that Harry vanished up the stairs to his dorm.

"Which in Harry-speak means he hasn't started packing yet, doesn't it?" Hermione sighed.

"Yeah, it's just as well he has the two of us to look after him, right?" Ginny said with a big grin on her face.

"Absolutely," Hermione agreed. "I'm glad we're friends again, Ginny."

"Me, too," Ginny said. She gave Hermione a quick hug and made her way upstairs to finish her own packing.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The final day of school was the usual anarchic scramble it always was. Harry, Ginny and Hermione all noted that breakfast was sparsely attended as many pupils had apparently put off packing until the morning. Ginny noted that this apparently included all of her brothers.

The three of them were able to arrive in plenty of time to catch the carriages to the station and were joined by Luna in time to ride down together. She and Hermione immediately got into an argument about the existence of the Blibbering Humdinger, but Ginny felt that the bushy-haired witch's heart wasn't really in it. Before long, they had arrived at Hogsmeade's railway station and had secured a compartment on the express train.

About half an hour into the journey, the compartment door was yanked open causing everyone to jump. Ginny's wand was instantly in her hand as she had expected the customary visit from Draco and his gang, only the visitor wasn't Malfoy at all; it was Ron.

Ron stood in the doorway looking around the carriage with cool expression on his face. Eventually, he turned to look at Harry.

"Alright, Harry?" Ron said in greeting, although he sounded rather distant.

"Ron," Harry said simply, his arm still draped over Ginny's shoulders.

"Look, I've given things a lot of thought, and I've realised that you probably didn't put your name in the goblet," Ron said. "That doesn't mean I approve of you dating my sister, though. Look, here's what I suggest: I'm prepared to apologise to you if you'll stop seeing Ginny, okay? You're just putting her at risk by being her boyfriend. Besides, she's too young to be dating, anyway. You do that and things can just go back to normal. What do you say?"

There was a stunned silence for a moment before Harry leapt to his feet. Ginny couldn't remember seeing him quite so angry before.

"That's what you suggest, is it?" Harry yelled, standing nose-to-nose with his former best mate. "Well, here's what I suggest: stick it up your backside! You've treated me like shit this past term! Merlin, you even attacked me when I was asleep. How could you possibly think that I'd want to be friends with you anymore?"

"Fine, screw you, you stuck-up git!" Ron snarled back. "But you'd better stay away from Ginny or else!"

"Or else what? You'll try and attack me when I'm asleep? You'll punch me when I'm not looking? I'll say this only once, so listen good: Ginny is my girlfriend and nothing you can say or do will change that. You keep pushing this and if you're lucky I'll kick your head in. If you're unlucky, Ginny will deal with you herself. If you're really unlucky the rest of your family, including the twins, Bill and your mum, who all approve of us being together, will deal with you. Now piss off!"

Ron sneered at Harry in a manner Draco would have been proud of. "This isn't over, Potter," he growled. "Hermione, are you coming?"

"What?" Hermione said in surprise. "You really think I want anything to do with you after the horrid things you said? You must be out of your tiny mind. Oh, and add me to the list of people who will be coming after you if you try to get between Harry and Ginny."

"Sorry, I should have realised you'd consider yourself too important to hang around with me now you've shagged a famous Quidditch player," Ron taunted her. "Are you proud now you've become another notch on Krum's bedpost?"

"Get out! GET OUT!" Hermione screamed and Ron suddenly found himself facing Harry, Ginny and Luna's drawn wands. Without another word he turned and stormed out of the compartment. Harry slammed the door closed behind him.

"That BASTARD!" Hermione raged, tears falling thick and fast from her eyes. "Victor would never treat me like that. Besides, we never did more than kiss!"

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry said kneeling in front of her. "Just ignore Ron. He just said the most hurtful thing he could think of. It's all rubbish, we know that."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was my dear brother that gave all those stupid quotes to the Daily Prophet earlier in the year," Ginny mused. "Don't worry, Hermione. I'm not letting the git get away with talking to you like that!"

"I can't believe I ever liked him!" Hermione sobbed. "He's horrid!"

"You're not alone, Hermione, I liked him, too," Luna admitted, "although, come to think of it, he was always a bit mean to me when I used to visit the Burrow when I was little. I guess Ron still hasn't grown up yet."

"Do you think a grown up Ron would be any better?" Harry asked. "He'd still be an idiot, I'd bet."

Ginny just shook her head. She'd put money on their being a confrontation between her and Ron this summer and she wasn't going to hold back. The sooner her brother realised he couldn't get away with acting in that manner, the better. She grinned evilly; she was almost looking forward to it.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Ron stomped down the passageway in a rage. Bloody Harry Potter! Now he'd won the Triwizard Tournament he probably thought he was too good to hang around with the likes of him! What a git. And he'd managed to turn Hermione against him, as well. Yeah, he'd said some nasty things to the girl during their last fight, but that was normal, wasn't it? That was what the two of them did; they fought like tigers and then they made up. Of course, now she

was slobbering all over Victor Krum, damn it. In his rage, Ron kicked at the wall.

"Careful, Weasley, you'll damage something," came a hated voice from behind him. Ron spun and was confronted by the sight of Draco Malfoy standing there with a small grin on his face.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron spat.

"Easy, I wasn't having a go at you," Draco replied, spreading his hands wide to show he meant no harm. "I was just advising you not to waste your time kicking lumps out of the carriage walls. You'd be better off kicking that oaf Potter, instead."

"I don't need your advice," Ron growled.

"No, I suppose you don't," Draco agreed in a sympathetic voice. "After all, you finally saw through wonder boy Potter's bullshit, didn't you? After being brainwashed by hearing all the other Gryffindors banging on about how fantastic he is, that took some intelligence."

"Just because I've seen that git in his true light doesn't mean I want anything to do with you!" Ron snapped.

"Nah, and trust me, I don't want anything to do with you, either," Draco replied mildly. "But I do sympathise with your plight. Once again, Potter snaps his fingers and he gets everything he wants, just because he has that stupid scar on his head."

Ron said nothing, not quite able to bring himself to agree with anything Malfoy said.

"But it must really be sickening to see your sister draped all over him," Draco continued. "You Weasleys might be poorer than dirt, but you are a proper pure-blood family, I'll give you that. To see a respectable pure-blood witch fawning over a filthy half-blood turns my stomach, personally."

"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron said, defiance building in him again. "Blood has nothing to do with it. Look at Hermione; she's the smartest witch ever and she's Muggleborn. What have you got to say about that?"

"Yes, she is very smart, isn't she?" Draco acknowledged with a smile. "I mean, she must be very smart if she first manages to get a celebrity like Potter to befriend her within five minutes of entering the Wizarding world. And now look at her; she's got a wealthy and famous Quidditch player at her beck and call. I wonder how she did that, bearing in mind how plain looking she is. She's smart enough to brew a love potion, isn't she? At least, that's what you told The Daily Prophet, didn't you?"

"Shut up," Ron repeated, but his voice lacked conviction.

"Maybe it's just a matter that she's really easy," Draco speculated, "after all, breeding will always tell in the end, Weasley. Trust me, you're much better off without that filthy Mudblood; she'd just seduce you and take you for whatever she could get. In your case it would be a respectable family name and in Krum's it's probably wealth and fame. That girl doesn't miss a trick, does she?"

"Hermione wouldn't be that manipulative," Ron protested weakly.

"You think?" snorted Draco. "For a worthless first-generation witch she seems to be making quite a name for herself. She's had her name in the papers and she's got a famous Quidditch star on her arm. Notice how quickly she dropped you when she found something better, eh? You may scoff at me for believing blood and breeding is important, Weasley, but I'll tell you something; Granger is a perfect example of those that have neither. For all her intelligence she's just a dirty, manipulative little whore who'll spread her legs for anyone if she thinks it will get her ahead. She's got no class, whatsoever."

Ron stood with his jaw clenched. Draco was right! Granger had been happy to be his friend until Krum appeared and then she'd ditched him faster than he could blink.

"There's a reason your family have kept their blood pure, Weasley," Draco said smiling. "Anyway, I'd better be off. If you want my advice I'd really do something about that dirty, lying half-blood dating your sister; she's bound to get sucked into all sorts of degrading behaviour if you don't. See you around, Weasley."

And with that Malfoy strode off, heading for the compartments at the front of the train, leaving a very confused young wizard behind him.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The train pulled into Kings Cross right on time and there was the usual rush to disembark. Ginny and her friends remained seated for a few minutes to let the crush die down before they left their compartment. The platform was a sea of mingling bodies and none of them could spot their families initially.

"Come on, let's head down the platform a bit," Harry suggested.

They had only gone a few yards when Luna spotted her father.

"Oh, there's Daddy now," she declared excitedly. "I'll see you three next term."

And with that the tiny blond witch vanished into the crowd dragging her trunk behind her.

"Will you see Luna over the holidays?" Harry asked Ginny curiously.

"Nah, Luna and her dad always spend the entire break overseas searching for mythical beasts," Ginny explained. "Personally, I think it's all a ploy by her father so he can spend all the holiday with her. They both seem to enjoy themselves, anyway."

"Oh, that's actually rather sweet," Hermione commented.

"Yeah, I get the impression that after Luna's mum died she and her father became really close," Ginny explained. "They just want to spend as much time together as possible without interruptions, I guess."

By now the platform had begun to clear and they decided to pass through the barrier so Hermione could look for her family. Sure enough, the Grangers were waiting patiently on the Muggle side of the station. Hermione waved at them furiously and dragged Harry and Ginny over to meet them.

"Mum, Dad, you remember Harry, don't you?" she said after she'd hugged both her parents.

"Yes, I do," Mr Granger cautiously. He seemed to be looking at Harry and Ginny's joined hands. "How are you?"

"Really good, thank you, Mr Granger," Harry said politely. "I'm not sure if you remember my girlfriend here, Ginny Weasley? You met her in Diagon Alley a couple of years ago?"

"Oh, yes, we remember the Weasleys, certainly," Mrs Granger confirmed.

Ginny couldn't happen to notice the raised eyebrows being shared by Hermione's parents. She strongly suspected that they had thought that Harry and their daughter would be getting together, if they hadn't already. _Sorry_, _Grangers, he's mine_, she thought.

"Ginny! Harry! There you are, we've been looking all over," cried a voice.

Ginny turned around to see her mother bearing down on her rapidly. The twins were following her with big grins on their faces, and trailing behind, scowling, was Ron. But what really caught her attention was the tall, dark-haired man accompanying the group.

"Sirius!" Harry cried and darted forward to catch the man in a powerful embrace.

"Whoa! Careful there, Harry!" Sirius said laughing. "You've really grown in these last few months. You've put on a few muscles, too, if that bone-crushing hug is anything to judge by."

"I wasn't expecting you here," Harry exclaimed happily. "I was waiting for my usual ice-cold Dursley welcome."

"Ah, the Dursleys won't be coming, I'm afraid. I visited them a couple of day ago to voice my displeasure at their behaviour," Sirius grinned. "I might have forgotten to mention that I'm no longer a wanted man responsible for multiple murders. They certainly seem a bit upset by my presence."

"Brilliant!" Harry laughed. "Maybe that will make my last week or so with them a bit easier."

"It will make it incredible easy," Sirius announced with a smile. "You're not going back."

"What!" Harry gasped.

"Yes, I've managed to get the old family residence back, so I figured that you might as well come home with me rather than suffer with the Dursleys anymore," Sirius told him. "The house is in pretty bad shape and it's not exactly what I would call cheerful, but I expect we can smarten it up a bit, if you don't mind getting your hands dirty."

"Are you kidding? I'd rather live on a rubbish tip than with the Dursleys," Harry snorted. "Besides, I'm pretty handy at housework; we'll get the place sorted in a jiffy."

"I'll come over and help, too," Ginny added. "That would be okay, wouldn't it, Mum?"

"Oh, any excuse to get dirty with your boyfriend, eh, Ginny?" Fred commented.

"Yeah, I bet they find some nice, dark, secluded places that they have to clean together," George agreed.

"That's enough you two!" Molly scolded them. "I'm sure we can all go over and give Sirius and Harry a hand."

"Why, thank you, Molly," Sirius said graciously. "That would be wonderfully kind of you."

"Not at all," Molly replied. "Besides, I think we need to keep an eye on these two lovebirds."

"Mum!" Ginny protested, to everyone's amusement. The only exception was Ron who stood apart from the group staring at Harry with an expression of hatred. Ginny decided she would deal with him later.

After some more friendly chat, the three groups headed off in different directions. The Grangers had a car parked in the station car-park, the Weasleys were going to catch the Knight Bus and Sirius and Harry had decided to walk the short distance to the house at Grimmauld Place. Before they parted company, Harry and Ginny managed to discretely distance themselves from the others.

"I can't believe I don't have to go back to the Dursleys. This is going to be the best summer ever," Harry enthused.

"I'm really happy for you, Harry," Ginny told him. "And I'll be even happier if I get to come over to your place loads."

"I'm sure Sirius won't mind; he really likes you," he said. "You'll have to work on your mum a bit. Try and convince her that she does need to accompany you."

"Yeah, after all, we will be under adult supervision," she noted.

"I'm not sure your mum considers Sirius an adult, but you never know," Harry joked.

"I miss you already," Ginny told him seriously.

"Yeah," he said with a lump in his throat. "I can't wait until you come over. We've been together so much in this last year I can't imagine not having you around."

"Luckily, you shouldn't have to," she replied.

Their goodbye kiss was unfortunately brief and slightly marred by the twins yelling suggestive comments at them. All the same, Ginny felt her heart beating faster at the end of it. Sadly, she watched Harry and Sirius disappear into the crowd with one final wave.

"Come on, Ginny," said her mother, putting a comforting hand around her shoulder. "You'll see him again soon enough."

And with that the Weasleys started to make their way out of the station. As she walked, Ginny speculated on what an incredible year it had been. They had faced danger and hardship, but she was finally with her Harry and that was all that mattered. They still had massive challenges ahead of them, and Ginny had some difficult things to tell Harry, but she was confident that together they would overcome any problems.

Voldemort wasn't going to know what hit him.


End file.
